Kingdom Hearts: Bliss of Heart
by Lord Fortune
Summary: The note from the King wasn't from the King at all! But who sent it, and why? Whatever reason, the letter is forgotten when Disney Castle and Radiant Garden are taken by an Empire, Riku vanishes, and Kairi meets a man who knew her in a past life...
1. Author Unknown

**Kingdom Hearts 3: Bliss of Heart**

**Inspired by the Kingdom Hearts games (which I do not own), and several movies and TV shows that I'm gonna put into this thing (which I do not own). In case you missed it: I don't own any of this stuff! That's all on Disney and Square Enix. There will be individual disclaimers throughout the story. I'm not giving away any spoilers!! I DO, however, own the plot and any characters I come up with. My own characters will be listed as mine when they appear.**

**Chapter 1: Author Unknown**

**At Radian Garden…**

Leon was sitting in Merlin's house, with the other members of the Restoration Committee talking about where they could set up a new headquarters. One: because they were running out of room, and two: because Merlin wanted his house back. Aerith had called in sick; she had a bad case of the flu.

"We could move into Maleficent's old castle, it's just empty now, sept' for some Heartless," Cid suggested.

"Na, we need somewhere new, something we built ourselves!" Yuffie piped up.

"I don't care where you go, but your constant popping in on me is going to stop!" Merlin yelled.

Leon wasn't even taking notice of the conversation. His mind was drifting back to a time long gone…

**At the Great Maw…**

The area was deserted. No one around but a couple Heartless. And even those creatures seemed to lose interest with the bleakness of the area and started to march towards town. Had they stayed a little longer, they would have found that they would have had a visitor.

Suddenly there was a flash of light, and when it departed, a woman with black hair layered with three caramel highlights on each side appeared. She was wearing what appeared to be a ripped and tattered ball gown. Her eyes were closed, as though she was unconscious. Fact of the matter, she was. The woman fell as though in slow motion and collapsed on the ground. She let out a soft groan, along with one word which barley left her lips. "Squall…"

**Back in Merlin's house…**

"Rinoa!!" Leon yelled as though in distress. Everyone looked at him with curiosity.

"What's a Rinoa?" Yuffie asked.

"… Nothing, just an old friend… I think I dozed off," Leon replied.

"Oh… O.K.!" Yuffie said happily and returned to a heated argument with Cid about something or other. Merlin was only annoyed by them; whatever they were arguing about, it didn't have anything to do with a new headquarters.

"Hey guys… I don't fell so good," Leon lied as he stood up. "I think I'm going to head home." No one seamed to take much notice of him except Yuffie, who raised a hand in farewell. The man walked out of the building and out into the streets, and he really had the intention of going home. Suddenly there was a burst of light near the outskirts of town. He turned and stared in that direction. "Is… is it really you?" he asked no one in particular. He started in the direction of the now receding light, and quickly broke into a run.

**A bit later...**

Leon charged right through a small group of Heartless and headed for the Great Maw as fast as he could. He finally got there and...

It was Sora.

Well, not as awesome as seeing your long-lost girlfriend, but exiting just the same.

Wait... who was he with? Kairi?

"Hey! Sora!" Leon yelled as he ran over.

"Leon!" Sora motioned for Kairi and the other boy he was with to follow him, and they started towards Leon.

"Hey guys," Leon said as they finally met up.

"What's up Leon?" Kairi asked.

"Er... not much," Leon replied. "Uh... you've grown a lot."

"Thanks!" Kairi said with a smile.

Leon turned to the other boy. "Sora... who's this?"

"This is Riku, Leon!" Sora said. "You know, my best friend who fell to darkness then became a good guy again and stayed behind the Door to Darkness."

"Hey," Riku muttered.

"He reminds me of you sometimes," Sora whispered to Leon.

Leon almost laughed. Almost.

"So what are you guys here for?" Leon asked. "I'd think you would be relaxing on the islands now."

"Yeah... about that..." Sora muttered.

"We got a letter from Mickey." Riku said. "Er... the King."

"And what did the letter say?" Leon asked.

"Here, see for your self." Riku thrust a small sheet of paper at Leon, who took it and began to read.

Dear Sora, Riku, and Kairi,

I apologize that I may not come in person to deliver this letter, but I am held up with a very pressing matter at Disney Castle. I hate to ask this of you, as I know that you are probably settling back down on the Islands, but I have a task for you. There is a strange happening: worlds have collapsed on themselves, with no sign of Heartless assaults. I myself am investigating these things from afar, but I wish for you to visit, or even revisit, worlds and seal, or check, their Keyholes. You see, Wonderland and Deep Jungle are two of the worlds that have fallen. Please visit Radiant Garden first, as Leon and the others are aware of these events, and if this letter were to fall into the wrong hands… well… you know. Anyway, they have more information.

Hope to see you all soon, and good luck,

M.M.

"Alright Leon, the King's letter said that you had information," Riku said as Leon finished reading.

"I... er... to be quite honest, I haven't got a clue what the King is talking about," Leon replied.

"What?" all three asked in unison.

"Come on, let's get back to town and see if we can figure things out," Leon replied.

**Back in Merlin's House...**

Once everyone was up to speed, Yuffie immediately cried out, "What if the King didn't really send it?"

"Well, that would be the most logical answer at the moment, but it leads to another question," Merlin replied. "Who _did_ send it, and why?"

"Two questions, genius," Cid smirked.

"It should be easy to figure out the why," Leon said, ignoring Cid. "Whoever sent ether wanted Sora, Riku, and Kairi off the Islands or they wanted them here. Or both."

"Still, why would they want _either_ of those things?" a new voice said.

Everyone looked up to the roof to see the Gullwings, Rikku, Yuna, and Paine, hovering over them.

"How long have you been there?" Cid asked.

"About two days," Rikku smiled. "It's warm up here."

"Seven minutes and thirty two seconds exactly," Paine said in her usual uninterested voice. "Give or take a few seconds." Rikku blew Paine a raspberry.

Leon groaned. "You guys are part of the Restoration Committee, so come on down from there..."

"Yeah, come on down so I can kill you!" Yuffie cried angrily. "I've been waiting for this since the Ice-Cream!"

"Yeah, let's go RIGHT NOW!" Cid shouted.

"...What ice-cream?" Sora asked. Kairi just looked confused.

"Do most of your meetings work like this?" Kairi looked to Leon.

"Only on Wednesdays," Leon said, burying his face in his hands.

"But... today is Friday..." Sora scratched his head in confusion. Leon lowered one of his hands long enough to glare at Sora. "Oh."

Suddenly Merlin perked up. "I know," he said. "Why don't you go fight out on the street. You'll have more room to blow each-other up out there."

The Gullwings zipped out the door with Yuffie and Cid in tow.

"That was surprisingly easy," Merlin muttered as he pulled a pipe out of his robe pocket.

"You still haven't gotten your house back?" Sora asked.

"I don't get a wink of sleep anymore, what with these hooligans charging in night and day!" Merlin said angrily as he lit his pipe and started puffing on it.

"Back to the letter?" Riku suggested, annoyed.

"Oh... right," Merlin said as gunshots were herd from outside.

"What?! GUNS?! Where the ell' did you get GUNS?!" Cid's voice was heard.

"Oh yeah... forgot to tell them Yuna bought guns," Leon muttered.

"Letter? Anytime now," Riku said, slouching over in his chair.

"Yuna bought guns?" Sora asked.

"Is Yuna one of those girls?" Kairi attempted to catch up.

"Letter... important..." Riku muttered.

"Yeah, she's one of the Gullwings," Sora told her. "Those three girls are treasure hunters."

"Rikku was the cheery one," Leon informed. "Yuna was the one who didn't say anything. She's alright. Paine was the emotionless one."

"Speak for your self, emotionless," Sora said with a smirk.

"Maybe it's just Tidus, Wakka and Selphie pranking us," Riku tired again.

Merlin continued to puff on his pipe, and the smoke was starting to fill up the room, making Kairi feel a bit dizzy. Merlin was off in his own world tuning everyone out.

"You want emotionless?" Leon asked. "Look Cloud up."

"Well since he disappeared after the fight with Sephiroth, that could be hard," Sora shot back.

"Who's Cloud?" Kairi asked, her head spinning from Merlin's pipe fumes.

"A real strong warrior with a huge sword," Sora said, not looking at her.

"It's a little sheet of paper with words on it..." Riku explained.

Merlin continued puffing on his pipe, Sora and Leon got into an argument about something, and Riku continued to try and fail at getting the others' attention. Kairi just sat there taking it all in.

"Oh YEAH?!?" Sora yelled. "I bet YOU couldn't beat Sephiroth in a fight!!"

"YOU hardly even winded him!!" Leon retorted at the top of his voice.

"Oh, it's ON!!!"

"BRING IT!!!"

"I WILL!!!"

"JUST TRY!!!!"

"I WILL DOMINATE!!!"

"I'LL KICK YOUR BUTT LIKE I DID IN TRAVERSE TOWN!!!"

"YOU DID NOT JUST GO THERE, LEON!!!!!!!"

"I DID!!!"

"We found it in a bottle... it had the King's seal on it..." Riku covered his ears as he said it.

This went on for about thirty minutes until Cid hurled Rikku through the door. That got everyone's attention. Anyway, after Merlin fixed the door, confiscated everyone's weapons, and healed several black eyes and one broken leg, everyone was sitting down at the table.

"Alright, now that we have _come to order_," Riku started. "I believe I have devised a plan of action."

"Go ahead," Sora said.

"First, we need to check out Wonderland and Deep Jungle. If they really are gone, then at least some of the letter is true. Next Sora, Kairi and I can fly to Disney Castle and see Mickey... the King himself. Question him."

"I can look into the world-not-being-there thing right now," Cid said as he stood up and walked over to the computer. "Oy! Tron! Ya there?"

"Quite, User Cid," came a familiar voice.

"Tron!" Sora cried happily. He jumped up and ran to the computer. "Hey Tron, how have you been?"

"Ah! User Sora! It is so good to hear your voice again," Tron replied. "Oh... and I have been suffering from strange symptoms lately. In a few words: an undeniable need to dance. Have you been messing with my programing?"

"Er... no Tron, I haven't done a thing," Sora said as he arched an eyebrow. Yuffie coughed discreetly in the background.

"Tron," Cid said. "We need ya to give us a live view of Wonderland and Deep Jungle. They should be in your database."

"Accessing."

"..."

"..."

"... Projecting."

Suddenly the screen was sporting two pictures of what looked like small Asteroid fields.

"There are no signs of any life," Tron reported unnecessarily.

"We got that Tron," Leon muttered.

"Man..." Sora said. "I was hoping that they were still around."

"Sora, didn't Alice live on Wonderland?" Leon asked nervously.

"Yeah, but you don't need to remind me, because I feel bad enough."

"No, Sora," Leon said. "She was a _Princess of Heart._"

"Oh... yeah," Sora froze. "Er... what happens when a Princess of Heart dies?"

"I have no idea," Leon replied. "My guess is she would be reincarnated into some kid somewhere."

"I can search the database for information if you wish," Tron said.

"Go ahead," Cid muttered as he stuck a tooth pick into his mouth and started chewing.

"Searching."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... No results found."

"That's helpful," Sora muttered.

"Guys?" Riku finally said something.

"What?" Everyone looked back at him.

"I think the Restoration Committee should do the research. We gotta get to Disney Castle."

"Yeah... I suppose," Sora replied.

"What are you guys fly'n anyway?" Cid asked.

"Er... it's small," Riku started. "There aren't many places to hide Gummi ships on the Islands, so it had to be small."

"What's it called?"

"The Mabrik. It isn't the best ship of all time, but it's fast," Riku answered.

"We'll see you guys later," Sora said as he walked out.

"Yeah, see you later!" Kairi echoed as she followed Sora out the door.

"See ya..." Riku muttered as he followed them.

Seconds after they were out, Yuffie looked at Leon and commented, "That Riku guy was kind of cute."

Everyone groaned.

**Later, in space...**

Riku activated the warp drive as Sora and Kairi climbed up the ladder to the cockpit. The ladder came from the living quarters; it consisted of two bunk beds, a fridge, a microwave oven, a few cabinets, a door that led to a bathroom, and a table. All in one small room. Yeah. _Cozy. _

Sora and Kairi got into the cockpit just as the Mabrik's warp drive kicked into gear and the ship jolted a bit.

"The trip will take about ten hours," Riku informed Sora as plopped down into one of the co-piolt seats. "Talk about jetlag. What do you wanna do until then?"

"I don't know..." Sora muttered, a little upset at the loss of Tarzan and Alice. And his other friends from those two worlds of course. "How about a game of Spades?" He held up a pack of cards.

"Nah... that's what we played on the way over," Kairi said as she sat down as well. He reached into her pocket and pulled out a pink Nintendo DS Lite. "New Super Mario Bros. mini-game multiplayer?"

"You are so on." Sora reached into the glove compartment and pulled out his lime green DS as Riku grabbed a red one and started up the connection.

**I don't own any of the Final Fantasy characters in this chapter, nor do I own the Nintendo DS. The lime green one is a European exclusive, I think. I don't own Mario either, but I think that goes without saying. Oh! Almost forgot. I don't own Tron either. Or Tarzan and Alice, since they are mentioned in this chapter. Don't own Mickey Mouse, since he wrote the letter... Don't own Merlin the Wizard... as stated at the beginning, I don't own the Kingdom Hearts characters such as Sora, Riku, and Kairi.**

**Rinoa was Leon's girlfriend in Final Fantasy VIII. She will make a physical appearance later, but I'm not telling when.**

**Yuna buying guns is a reference to her signature weapons in Final Fantasy X-2.**

**I'm really not all that happy with this chapter, but the story has to start somewhere, and this just seemed easier than having to get them from Destiny Islands to Radiant Garden. The next chapter has better dialogue and more action, so just wait. Things pick up soon.**

**On a side note, you'll notice that their trip to Disney Castle is taking them about ten hours. Yes, trips between worlds are not cakewalks. You remember how close Disney Castle and Radiant Garden were on the KH 2 world map? Yeah.**


	2. Castle in Distress

**Hello people! Below these words is the marvel that is chapter two. You'll see some faces you know, some you don't know, and you read about lots of fighting!! **

**Carry on.**

**Chapter 2: Castle in Distress **

**Ten hours after we left Sora, Riku, and Kairi...**

Kairi was _dominating_. After a playing for two hours, taking a nap, eating lunch, and then playing for another three hours, the group had continued playing multi-player on Nintendo DS and Kairi was winning so big it wasn't even funny. Sora was the video gamer of the group, but Kairi had had a year to hone her skills while Sora and Riku were off saving the worlds (or in Sora's case, sleeping).

"I needed more warmup time," Sora grumbled.

"You had forty minutes before you said 'This time decides the champ', Sora," Kairi smirked as she was declared the winner of round fifteen. Sora said something less that decent under his breath just as The Mabrik slowed up and warp drive shut down.

The three looked out the window at Disney Castle. It looked normal as ever, except for one thing: it was surrounded by huge knife shaped ships. And those knife shaped ships had lots and lots of what looked like one man ships flying around them. And then it got even worse when suddenly the projector in the cockpit turned on. A man in a gray uniform looked at them. The small area around him was filled with computers and lots of flashing lights. If he was surprised that the ship was being piloted by three Gameboy playing kids, he didn't show it.

"Unidentified ship," he started. "You are entering restricted space. Please state your directive."

"Er, we're here to see-," Sora started.

"To drop off some supplies on the surface," Riku cut in. "We received an order for some... er... titanium alloy. We are already a day late, so if you could please let us pass, we would be very greatfu-,"

"Who made this order?" the man demanded. "One of the town's people?"

"Er... yeah," Riku replied.

"Did they state what it was to be used for?"

"Uh, no... but we'll give you their location on the way out, so you can watch them incase they are doing anything contraband," Riku replied quickly.

"Very well. I am glad we have a mutual understanding. Carry on." And with that, the projection ended.

"Where did you learn to think on your feet like that?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah, what's with the secrecy?" Sora asked as Riku pushed the ship past the blockade.

"I learned something during my adventures that you never did, Sora," Riku replied as the ship passed into the atmosphere. "If you're out gunned and out shipped, and you don't know who your friends and your allies are, you come up with the most innocent lie you can."

"... And the titanium alloy?" Sora asked.

"Something those nut-balls, whoever they are, could have ordered. Less likely for the town's people, but if they were building something..."

"We get the picture," Sora said. "Land on the edge of the town, that way it wouldn't look suspicious. We'll work our way the the Castle on foot."

"Yeah," Kairi muttered. "Let's keep our fingers crossed that there aren't any yahoos in gray suits watching us."

Unfortunately for the three, the streets were filled with something worse; a bunch of men in white armor carrying what looked suspiciously like sci-fi laser guns. Frankly, their dark eye sockets and weird face plates were kind of creepy.

"Shouldn't we have some sort of container for our _titanium alloy_?" Sora asked, half joking with Riku's choice of words. Just at that second a small group of the armored men walked by, a floating platform carrying many large blue and yellow crates. "Those things look like plastic," Sora muttered.

Just then the men stopped. One of them reached for a small disk and held it in front of himself. Instantly a small transparent blue figure appeared on it. The figure was dressed similarly to the man Riku had talked with.

"We have the cargo in position sir," the armored man said.

"Very good," the figure replied with a british accent. "Have two of your men guard it while you retrieve the rest."

"Yes sir," the armored man said as the put the communicator away. He turned around. "Well! You heard the man! Let's get moving!" He pointed to to of his men. "7-45 and 379-Z, you will stay here."

"Yes sir!" the two said in unison as the rest moved out.

"So, what do you suppose the Empire wants this dump for?" one of them asked.

"You know, after twenty two years of service, I've discovered it's better not to ask," the other one replied. "All I know is, the sooner I get moved out of fairy-tail land and back to Felucia, the better."

"Wait-." The two armored men positioned their rifles to shoot, just as a teenager with spiky hair started to walk towards him.

"That looks kinda like em'..." the veteran muttered.

"You! State your name!!" the other one cried.

"Er... my name is... Oliver," Sora replied nervously.

Meanwhile, Riku and Kairi were sneaking around the guards. They looked at each-other as if asking, '_Oliver?'_.

"What are you doing out here?" both of the men asked at once.

"Uh... I'm making a delivery... titanium alloy. But our... er... hover-table-thingy is on the fritz." Sora pointed to the floating platform. "Can we borrow that one?"

"What?" the veteran asked. "You ain't got no right to take the Empire's equipment!"

"_Come on Sora..."_ Riku thought. _"They could be back any second..."_

"You just go and buy one at some store in the department section," the veteran said. "It's down the street, take a right, then a left, two blocks, and-,"

All of the sudden, the two men herd a voice cry "Stop!", and suddenly they were frozen.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

A silver haired teen and a dark red haired girl jumped out at them. The silver haired boy was holding a sword that looked a bit like a dragon wing. Or something like that.

"Sora! Quick, knock the other one out!"

"_Sora?"_ both of the men thought. _"It _is_ Sora!! Oh, merciful God, he's here and no one knows!! Quick, we gotta-!"_

But the flat side of the silver haired boy's sword made contact with one of their heads, and Sora's silver and yellow key-looking sword hit the other's. The spell wore off, and the two slumped over, knocked out.

"Alright, now that we know we aren't going to look suspicious walking around with one of these things, let's go," Riku said as _Way to Dawn_ vanished. Sora nodded as _Kingdom Key_ vanished, and Riku walked over the the control panel on the platform. He pressed a few of buttons, accidentally dumped some of the cargo off, and finally programed the platform to follow him.

"We didn't hit them that hard," Riku said, nodding his head towards the men. "And those helmets probably absorbed most of the blow. Let's get to the Castle before they wake up."

With that, the three set off through the town. For a while it looked just like Sora had seen it like from inside the Castle. Kind of rustic, but in another way, cartoonish and welcoming. But as they got further in, it changed drastically.

Buildings were made of metal, and the strange armored men marched to and fro in the streets. A few of them spared the three glances, but there was no way to see what they were thinking under those helmets. Eventually Sora, Riku, and Kairi got to the center of the city. There was a huge open space, with a large royal seal indented into the ground a few inches. In the middle of that, there was a statue. Sora assumed it was supposed to depict the King, but instead, there was a hideous, twisted old man in a dark robe. The gold letters written around it in the ground read The Supreme Emperor Palpatine, Ruler of the Galactic Empire.

"What in the world happened here?" Sora asked, looking around. "What?"

"I don't know Sora," Riku muttered as they continued to the Castle. "But I intend to find out."

**Meanwhile, in the Disney Castle Audience Chamber...**

King Mickey sat on his big chair, Queen Minnie at his side. Goofy and Donald, decked out in their Knight and Mage uniforms, looked to the King in distress.

"What are we gonna do about the Imperials, you Majesty?" Donald quacked.

"There's nothing we can do right know," Mickey replied. "We just gotta hope that Sora doesn't try to come here anytime soon."

"Uh, but why would he do that?" Goofy asked. "I mean, he's probably relaxing on the Islands right now. It's not like we contacted him or nothing."

The King didn't replay.

"Is something wrong, Mickey?" Minnie asked.

"Yeah, and I'll tell you what's wrong!" Mickey cried, jumping up from his seat. His inverse Kingdom Key appeared in his hands. He pointed it at the ceiling and shot a ball of fire out of it. It collided with a small robot, which fell all the way down and blew up on the marble floor. "They're everywhere!!" Mickey shouted. "They have almost complete control. I doubt that they will let me keep the Crown after they find Sora! I'm only a bargaining chip in their game!"

"Uh, but your Majesty, why do those Imperial fellers what Sora so bad?" Goofy asked.

Mickey didn't reply. Then, reluctantly, he said, "I don't know Goofy. I don't know."

**At the Castle Gates...**

Sora, Riku, and Kairi trooped up to the Castle's gates. It was surrounded by seven of the soldiers, and one of them hand a backpack and an orang pad on his shoulder. An orange stripe ran down the middle of his armor, and his helmet sported what looked like a binocular-visor hybrid. He saw them approaching and moved the visor the the top of his helmet. "You there! State your names!"

"I'm Oliver," Sora said again, quickly regretting it because he saw that Kairi was trying to hold down giggles. Unsuccessfully.

"I'm...Sarah," Kairi said, trying to think of the most ordinary name she could while attempting to stop herself from falling to the ground laughing.

"David," Riku said. Kairi was having a hard time breathing. Sora sighed in annoyance. Why did girls find everything so funny?

"What are you doing here?" the man asked.

"Oh, so now you aren't going to introduce yourself?" Kairi asked, felling like she was going to wet herself. Riku and Sora groaned.

The man looked taken aback (well, he didn't look anything, thanks to the helmet. He just backed up a step or two) before responding, "Captain Sienex. Now, what are you doing here?"

"We're delivering some titanium alloy," Riku said, regretting it seconds later. If someone knew and made a connection... "There was, er, some damage in the dungeons and they need this to fix it." He nodded towards the floating platform.

"I wasn't told," Captain Sienex replied. "You'll have to wait while I clear it." And with that he walked over to a computer terminal set up on the wall next to the gate.

"Is it just me, or do a bunch of these guys sound the same?" Kairi asked.

"A bunch of these guys sound the same," Sora replied. "It's probably a voice box or something."

"Then why don't all of them have one?" Kairi pointed out.

Sora was about to answer when Riku jumped in. "Kairi, can you still summon that Keyblade I gave you?" Riku asked.

"Uh... I don't know. I haven't tried it since The World That Never Was," she answered.

"You better try quick, because look..." Riku pointed to the computer.

"That's what they said sir," Captain Sienex said. "They said they was delivering titanium alloy.... What? No, they're only like, what, fifteen?... Uh-hu... No, sir... Yes sir. Yes sir, I'll have my men take them into custody."

_That_ didn't sound like much fun. The Captain walked back over. "Alright kids, we're gonna have to take you in for questioning. Unless you would like to tell us who you really are _right now_."

"Uh, would the names Sora, Riku, and Kairi mean anything to you?" Sora asked.

The Captain had already yanked the rifle off his back. "TAKE COVER!!! ALERT ALL COMMAND!!!! SORA IS _HERE_!!!!!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Already the other six soldiers had drawn weapons and were pointing them at the three. "OPEN FIRE!!!!"

Sora and Riku just barely cast Reflect and Dark Shield in time to deflect the barrage of lasers. "Kairi! Keyblade! NOW!" Riku yelled as the shield dropped.

"Uh, I don't exactly have much experience in this department," Kairi muttered as she fruitlessly tried to summon her floral Keyblade into her hands.

"Forget it!" Sora yelled. "Just take cover!" Kairi obeyed and ran to one of the buildings and dropped the the ground.

Sora and Riku charged at soldiers just as one of them hit a few buttons on the computer and an alarm sounded: "Alert. Alert. We have a situation critical. Repeat, we have a situation critical. All units report to the Castle gates."

**Inside the Castle...**

The alarms continued to sound as Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy ran through the endless halls of the Castle until they reached a balcony where they could see the gate. From there, they had a clear view of Sora and Riku fighting with five of the soldiers.

"Yeah!! Sora's here!!" Goofy cried happily. "Now we've got a fighting chance against them Stormtroopers!"

"Yeah, le'me at em'!!" Donald added.

"No... oh-no..." Mickey muttered. Only Minnie heard him.

"What's wrong Mickey?" Minnie asked.

"No... he should have never come... I should have done something to stop him!" Mickey exclaimed as he buried his face in his hands.

"Your majesty?"

Mickey looked up. All three of them were looking at him, concern in their eyes.

"We've gotta take action now," Mickey said. "Donald, you get everyone in the Castle into a gummi ship. Minnie, tell Chip and Dale to make as many ships as they can. They need to be well armored and spacious. Weapons are optional."

"Mickey..." Minnie started.

"Goofy, you and your knights get everyone to the outskirts of town and wait. We'll be there with ships. Kill anyone who gets in your way."

"Your majesty?" Goofy asked. This was _extremely_ out of character for the King.

"I'll be down there with Sora and Riku to back you up soon. Now, we gotta hurry, so let's all shake a leg. We've gotta-,"

"Mickey," Minnie stopped him. "Why does it sound like we're evacuating the world?"

Mickey sighed. "Because we are."

**Back at the Castle gates...**

Sora thrust his Keyblade through the chest of another soldier. It felt different killing people and not Heartless. It was... harder.

But he couldn't let that get him down now.

Sora pulled his sword out of the soldier as he slumped to the ground. The teen whipped around just in time to avoid a string of lasers that were coming from Captain Sienex's machine gun. Sora dropped and rolled to get away just as Riku leapt over him, firing Dark Fireballs at the Captain, who was nimbly dodging them through flips and rolls. He was agile for all that armor.

Sora got back on his feat and shot a Fire spell of his own at the Captain. It hit home, but it wasn't strong enough to do anything more than singe the armor a bit. What Sora hated was, the burn mark actually looked kinda cool.

Just then Riku jumped on Sienex, and the two started wrestling, trying to through the other to the ground. Sora ran towards the two to help just as he felt a stinging pain hit his back. He collapsed, knocked out.

"Oh great... I think my rife was set for stun," said the trooper at the front of a small squad of soldiers.

"Moron," the leader said. "Watch and learn..." he took aim and-

"FOR DISNEY CASTLE!!!! Ahyuk."

The soldiers all looked to the Castle gate. It swung open and out charged Goofy, in full armor, followed by about forty other knights.

"FOR DISNEY CASTLE!!!!!..." they looked at each-other questioningly before saying, "Ahyuk," and charging after their leader.

Riku finally got Sienex to the ground, and was about to impale him when the Captain seemed to blast right through him and head for the sky. His back pack was a _jet pack. _Riku scowled and leapt into the air, rearing _Way to Dawn_ back over his shoulder. But, at that second, Sienex strapped his gun to his back again and pressed a button on his wrist. Out of a small tube looking thing strapped to his armor shot a red blade that seemed to glow. Riku's scowl deepened as their blades made contact. Sparks fews as their blades bounced off each-other's.

Wait a second.

_Sparks_.

Riku flipped freely through the air for a moment, taking advantage of the fact that he had repelled upwards off of his opponent's blade. He watched as Sienex flew towards him and held his blade up. This time Sienex swung down, hurling Riku back towards the earth. But the teen took note of something: the air around Sienex's blade was _hot_.

Goofy grabbed Sora's limp body and slung it over his shoulder. "Come on, fellers!! Let's teach these Imperial guys you don't mess with our home world!!" he yelled as his knights clashed with the Stormtroopers, swamping them in their shear numbers.

"Dad?"

Goofy turned to see another dog like him holding a sword, only this one looked younger. He was wearing a green t-shirt and sported iron shoulder-pads.

"Yeah, Maxie?" Goofy asked his teenage son.

"Is that Sora?"

"Sure is!" Goofy replied. "Say, you don't mind holding onto him while I lead the troops, do ya?"

"Well dad, I was kinda hoping I could help you guys kick some-," Max started.

"Great!" Goofy cut in, dumping Sora onto Max's shoulders. "Stay safe, now." And with that Goofy ran to join his troops, who were advancing into the town, telling everyone in that area to get their stuff and get going.

Max sighed just as something thudded to the ground next to him. It was Sora's friend Riku. "Oh... uh, hey Riku," Max muttered. "My name is Max. My dad is Goofy, and he told me a lot about-,"

Then Riku hopped to his feet and hurled his Keyblade into the air at Sienex, who hit it hard back at the ground. Riku jumped, kicked off his own blade, summoned it back to him, and repeated the process until he had reached the Captain. His sword appeared in his hand just as Sienex swung at him. The trooper's blade slashed along Riku's and sent sparks flying. Riku flipped nimbly upward and swung his blade down at Sienex. The Captain spun through the air away from Riku, who's lunge missed and sent him hurtling to the ground. He crashed next the the kid who said he was Goofy's son again.

"That looked like that hurt," Max muttered. Riku grunted in annoyance. "Here, take a potion."

Oh. Well then. Maybe this kid wasn't so stupid after all.

"Uh... thanks," Riku muttered before downing the potion.

"Don't mention it," Max replied.

Riku stood up. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen," Max replied.

"Right... now, if you'll excuse me..." Riku said as he threw himself back up towards Captain Sienex.

**Meanwhile, in the gummi ship hanger...**

Queen Minnie walked into the massive gummi ship hanger and over to the loud speaker. "Queen Minnie to launch crew," she said. "I have an assignment directly from King Mickey."

"Oh boy!" Chip's high-pitched voice came. "What sort?"

"We need as many ships as you can rustle up," Queen Minnie replied sadly. "We are evacuating the world."

"What?" Dale's voice asked. "Why would he want to do that? Is it because of those Imperials? Because I told Chip-,"

"Shut up, dummy!" Chip said. "Don't worry Miss. Minnie ma'am! We don't need any ships!"

"Why not?" Minnie asked.

"Because this entire Castle has engines strapped to the bottom. The Castle is a ship in its self!" Chip replied happily.

"And why did we not hear about this?" Minnie asked nervously.

"We did tell you!" Dale pipped up. "I was in our last report!"

"Shut up, dummy!" Chip said again. "But it _was_ in our last report."

"Well, if your reports didn't usually consist of detailed summaries of the last time you played _Snoopy and the Red Baron_ on your PS2, maybe their Majesties would pay more attention!"

Minnie turned to see Daisy walking up. She was the one who had spoken.

"It's alright Daisy," Queen Minnie replied. "Just try and keep your temper under control."

"No! She is _so_ hot when she's angry!" Dale cried.

"Shut up, dummy!!" Chip exclaimed in fear as Daisy blew a fuse.

"I am WHAT when I am angry?!?"

**At the Castle gates...**

Riku was tossed back to the ground again by the Captain. This was getting annoying.

"Try and swipe at his leg, then blast his head with some fire," Max suggested. "That'll distract him for a few seconds, and you may get a few blows in."

"Thanks," Riku replied, wiping his bloody lip as he jumped at the Sienex. Sienex swooped down on Riku and tried to slice through him. Riku twisted sideways and the trooper accidentally flew right past him. Riku grabbed Sienex's foot and was dragged along through the air.

"Hey! Get off!" the Captain yelled. He increased his jet pack's juice so that flames were reaching rapidly for Riku.

Riku swung under the trooper and kicked him hard in the chest, pointed his Keyblade at Sienex and yelled, "Force!" The huge ball of energy appeared around the two of them, increasing their weight. Slowly they started to fall to the ground as the jet pack strained to keep them in the air. The two started punching each-other, but it was clear who was wining in that department: Sienex was armored all over, so his punches hurt more and Riku's did nil. Riku's vision was tunneling as Sienex reared his hand back and started to extend his blade.

"_Aw crap,"_ Riku muttered. _"That thing's going through my head."_

Riku, swallowing his pride, summoned his Keyblade and swiped at the Captain's leg.

"Gghhaa!" Sienex grunted. He looked back to Riku to stab him, only to find a fistful of Dark Fireballs. "Bugger."

Sienex flew threw through the air, and Riku plummeted like a rock. He managed to land awkwardly next to Max.

"Not so annoying now, am I?" Max asked smugly. Riku frowned at him.

"Come on," Riku said. "Let's go help the knights clear these creeps out."

"Actually," Max started. "We're evacuating."

"We are _what_ now?"

"King Mickey ordered a full evacuation."

"But... we have the knights... we have the King!"

"I don't know how much you have seen, but the Imperials have landed more than five-hundred troops, and you've probably noticed by now that they're harder to beat than Heartless."

Riku sighed. "Hand me Sora," he ordered.

Max nodded and heaved Sora off his shoulder and onto Riku's. "You got him?"

"Yeah, I've carried him before," Riku replied.

"Right, then let's go!" Max said, drawing his sword and running into the village.

Riku ran after him, then remember something. Or, someone. "Wait up Max!" Riku called as he slowed up. "Kairi's missing!"

"Kairi's missing?" Max asked as he walked back over.

"Yeah, we left her behind that building over there. Come on, let's look for her." Riku and Max quickly ran over to the building. All they found was a small spot of blood on the wall.

"Dun dun _dun_..." Max said dramatically. Riku scowled at him.

**In case you haven't noticed... STAR WARS!!! DA... dun dundun dundun da da da da da da da da DAAAAA..... dun dun dun! Dun! Dun dun dun dun DUN!!!! Dun dun dun dun dun!!! Dun dun dun dun!!!! Dun dun!!!!!!!!!!!**

** Yeah, I'm a Star Wars fan. Not an obsessive fanboy or anything... what's another word... Trekie!!... no that's Star Trek... Ah well. Close enough. **

** Anyway, I don't own Star Wars or any of the Disney characters you saw in this chapter. Most prominently: Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy. Also Max Goof, Chip and Dale, and Daisy Duck. **

** I also don't own Emperor Palpatine.**

**I **_**do**_** own Captain Sienex. He's MINE.**

** Riku saying 'Stop' and 'Force' were spells from several Final Fantasies and from Kingdom Hearts 1. Stop halt's a target's movement, and Gravity (magic word: force) increases a target's weight.**

_**Snoopy and the Red Baron **_**is an airplane dog (ha) fighting video game. It was cartoon themed, so I thought it fit here. I don't own it. **


	3. We Aren't Gonna Leave the Castle!

**Chapter Three! Things take a turn for the worse near the end of this one, but it'll all be better soon. Fear not!**

**Chapter 3: We Aren't Gonna Leave the Castle!**

**Elsewhere in the town...**

Kairi hung limply over Captain Sienex's shoulder. Her arm was bleeding a bit from where she had fallen running from Sienex. But it was all over know. The Captain whom we all dearly love so much whopped her in the back of the head with his rife and was heading for a shuttle as fast as he could. The brat's Gravity spell hadn't worn off yet, so he was having trouble running at full speed. Still, he managed to slip around the combat area, through the metal part of town, to the outskirts, and find a shuttle.

"_Perfect,"_ Sienex thought as he started towards the ship.

"Not so fast."

Sienex was barley able to jump out of the way before Riku cried out, "Stop!"

"_Good,"_ Sienex thought._ "After all that casting, he should be weakened a bit."_

Sienex was right. Riku had almost forgotten how much magic took out of you. But all according to plan.

"Max! NOW!!"

Sienex didn't twist around in time to avoid Max coming down on him. Max's sword hit the soldier's back armor, leaving a long scrape mark.

"Is that all you got, kid?" Sienex sneered as, still supporting Kairi on his shoulder, he drew a pistol from its belt holster and extended the blade from his right arm armor.

"Riku! Feel free to jump in anytime now!" Max cried as he preformed a cartwheel backwards to avoid the Captain's slash.

"Workn' on it!" Riku replied as he leaped into the air and almost fired Dark Aura before remembering that Kairi was down there too. Riku sighed and dove towards the ground. He landed neatly on his feet next to Sienex. Sienex whipped around and slashed his blade at Riku, while at the same time shooting at Max. And Max was _behind him_.

"Have you got, like, rear view mirrors under that helmet?" Riku asked. "Because it looks that way to me."

"Please shut up," Sienex kicked Riku's knee inwards, almost causing the teen to collapse. Sienex spun violently and slammed his pistol into the side of Riku's head. The boy nearly blacked out at that, but stayed on his feet. Riku held up his Keyblade quickly just as Sienex came around again, this time on his sword side. Riku hit the blade as hard as he could, and they quickly went into a blade lock. Riku had no idea how he was doing it, the Captain was still shooting at Max.

"So, like, what's up with you guys?" Riku asked. "A freak incident with an abominable snow man?"

"I have killed seven Wampa on the planet Hoth single-handidly," Sienex replied, pushing harder on Riku's Keyblade.

"You lost me at 'Wampa'," Riku replied with a small yawn before clumsily flipping over Sienex, grabbing Kairi, and yelling to Max, "Let's go!!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Max said as the two took off back into town.

"Nice talking with you!" Riku called behind him with a smile as he tossed Kairi over his shoulder. Sienex took one quick shot at Riku, who deflected it with Dark Wall, then ran out of sight with a bit of a stumble from his knee injury, with Max in tow.

Sienex decided that he didn't like these kids.

**A few minutes later, in another part of town...**

Max and Riku stopped by the empty trash can they had dumped Sora in. Riku handed Kairi off to Max and took Sora himself after briefly resting his leg.

"Come on," Riku said as he swung Sora's limp body over his shoulders. "Let's go help your dad evacuate the town's people."

The two started towards the part of town where the fighting was loudest.

"So, you wanna tell me a bit more about these people?" Riku asked.

"The white-armored dudes are Stormtroopers," Max replied as he shifted Kairi a bit. "Soldiers of the Galactic Empire."

"Galactic Empire?"

"A huge group of worlds that have perfect knowledge of the existence of other worlds. Flying a craft between different worlds is as simple and unnoticed as riding a bike."

"Oh," Riku muttered. "I had no idea something like that existed."

"Primarily because they still have the 'pathway' issue that Sora had to deal with," Max told him. "As far as we know, they ain't got any Keyblades."

"Are they powerful?"

"Incredibly. Government, military, currency... need I go on?" Max asked.

"Nah, I get the picture," Riku answered. "So what are they doing here?"

"I don't know, maybe just conquest reasons?" Max suggested. "You know, increase the amount of tax munny income."

"They use munny?" Riku asked.

"They just convert it into Imperial Credits," Max finished with a dismissive wave of his hand as they walked into town square.

It was a mess. Stormtrooper bodies lay everywhere, and just a few knights. Hopefully because they had the element of surprise on their hands, they had only suffered minimal casualties. The statue of the Emperor had been demolished, peaces of white and black marble strewn all over the place.

"Well, they came through here," Riku chuckled sarcastically.

"Let's get going," Max said. "It looks like they went this way."

The two walked off in the direction Max had suggested just as Sora stirred.

"Guuggh... What did I miss?" Sora asked, his words slurring together.

"Goofy is leading his knights against the Stormtroopers," Riku replied.

"Stormtroopers?"

"The freaks in white," Riku clarified as he stopped and put Sora down. "We'll get into the details later."

Max made an 'ahem' noise.

"Oh, and this is Goofy's son, Max," Riku said.

"Uh... Nice to meet you?" Sora said, a bit confused as he shook Max's hand. Then he noticed Kairi. "Kairi! What happened to her?" Sora asked.

"That psychopath Captain got her, but she's o.k.," Riku growled. "Speaking of that psychopath captain, he is a worth opponent."

"Really?"

"I couldn't beat him," Riku said reluctantly.

"Right..." Sora muttered. "So we're attacking the... Stormtroopers?"

"Repelling them long enough to evacuate," Max answered.

"Huh? What for?"

"They have somewhere around five-hundred troops down here," Max answered. "And they could land more any minute."

"Stinks for us then," Sora said as he started rubbing his back and doing some stretches. "Where's the King?"

"I think he said he was going to be here helping us," Max informed.

As if on cue, the mouse king shot past them like a bolt of lightning, only to come to a screeching halt and charge back at the three of them (four if you count Kairi).

"Sora!" Mickey cried. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to ask you some questions about this letter," Riku answered before Sora could open his mouth. "Here, did you write this?" he asked as he handed the letter to King Mickey.

"I most certainly did not!" Mickey exclaimed after only reading the first two lines. "But why did you think to come here?"

"We went to Radiant Garden but Leon and the others said they didn't know anything," Sora started. "We used the computer to look at Wonderland and Deep Jungle and they were both gone, like the letter said."

"So we had decided that you hadn't sent the letter, but that some of it was true," Riku jumped in. "So we came here to get some answers. I think you know the story from there."

"No!" Mickey cried. "You should have never come!"

"Why? What's wrong?" Sora asked.

"It's..." Mickey stopped. "The Imperials probably want you so they can open gates to new worlds!"

"That would make sense," Riku muttered. "Then they could continue their conquest."

"O.K., I am definitely missing something here," Sora said, annoyed.

"We'll fill you in once we're off world," Max said. "Is Chip and Dale's evacuation fleet ready, you Majesty?"

"I was just about to call them," Mickey almost growled as he whipped out a cell phone. "Chip? Chip? No Dale, I want Chip. Yes..... Chip. Are the ships ready? What?... WHAT?!?"

And at that second, the entire Castle broke free from the ground and took off into the air.

"Let me guess," Sora said, looking up at the massive ship in awe. "Chip and Dale went overboard?"

"It would appear that way," Max said as every tower on the Castle was suddenly sporting large cannons.

"Well, getting everyone on board and getting past the blockade shouldn't be a problem," Riku commented as the Castle's shields went up.

"Yeah, that seems a bit overkill," a Stormtrooper randomly said.

All of our heroes looked at him strangely before Riku grabbed him by the leg, swung him around over his head, and hurled him over one of the buildings.

**Meanwhile, in space...**

Grand Moff Tarkin stood on the bridge of one of the huge knife ships, which were called Star Destroyers. He was frowning as he took a sip of his tea, very british-like.

"Moff Tarkin," said another officer as he walked up.

"Ah, yes, Captain Piett," Tarkin said with a British accent. "What is the situation down below?"

"It appears one of our ships allowed a small craft to land on the world, and it was occupied by Sora and his companions."

"What?" Tarkin asked. "Sora is here?"

"Yes sir," Piett replied.

"Contact Lord Vader," Tarkin said. "Now."

"Right away, sir." Piett saluted and walked off.

"And get me a status report from down there!" Tarkin yelled after him. "Find out what's going on and how many men we've lost!"

"Yes sir," Piett said one last time before leaving the bridge.

"I'll be damned if Vader is happy about this..." Tarkin muttered before taking a sip of his tea. "You!" he shouted at a random officer. "Bring me a lump of sugar!"

**Back on the surface...**

"You would think that Chip and Dale would have told me about this before now!" Mickey exclaimed for the thirteenth time. "I mean, then we could have had everyone just head for the Castle, then take off!"

"We get the picture," Riku said forcefully as they pressed on quickly through the streets.

Suddenly lasers were pouring down on them. Mickey and Sora casted Reflect just in time. Their magic shields disappeared quickly, but stayed up just long enough to protect the group. Riku started shooting Dark Aura at the Stormtroopers on the roofs around them as the rest bolted down the street.

"Come on!" Mickey yelled. "We can't waste our time!" Riku blasted a few more fireballs before running after the others.

"Gghheerrrr," Captain Sienex growled on the roofs. "I told you!" he yelled over at the other roof. "I told you not to fire until their shilds had gone down! They can't get them up that quickly!"

"Sorry sir," one off the troopers called back.

"Whatever," Sienex muttered. "Let's just get to them before they reach the Castle."

Almost the second he said that, the Castle floated low over the landing site and lowered a bridge.

"Come on!" Sienex yelled. He took off into the air and hoped that his people would catch up some time soon. He didn't have to worry though, because at that moment, Imperial drop ships started streaking towards the surface. Sienex switched over to their radio. "Just about time you got here!" Sienex growled at the pilots. "We've been completely wiped out!"

"Seriously?" one of the pilots asked. "Didn't we have some odd five hundred troops down there?"

Sienex sighed. What our heroes didn't know was that almost one hundred troops were removed from the surface and placed on ships, and one hundred more had been moved to another world entirely.

So stinks for the Imperials.

**At the landing site...**

The Castle had already opened fire on any of the ships that came near it, and had taken down a good ten of the big ones.

Cartoony citizens charged up the loading bridge as the knights covered their retreat. Almost everyone was on board when Queen Minnie ran down to the knights. "Where is King Mickey?" she demanded.

"I don't know your majesty," Goofy replied. "But you gotta get inside. We ain't gonna be able to hold out against that many troops." He pointed to the drop ships.

"We aren't leaving without Mickey and Sora," Minnie said in a very 'this is an order' voice.

"Sorry, Queen Minnie, but this is for you own protection," Goofy said as he and two other knights started herding her back up the loading bridge.

"Wait!" Minnie exclaimed. "You do know that Max is still out there, right?"

"MAX!!!" Goofy cried as he turned around and charged back down the ramp. Minnie could play dirty when she wanted to.

But just that moment, Mickey, Sora, Max, and Riku came charging out of the town towards them. Riku still had a slight limp, but was keeping up.

"Maxie!" Goofy cried happily.

The small group was waving franticly to them. Minnie and some of the knights waved back. Almost at the same time they realized that those were not 'hello we're here' waves, they were 'get off you butt and get the heck on the ship' waves.

But it was too late as five floating tanks, twenty troopers, and Captain Sienex ripped out of the town right on their heals. And they were firing.

"Let's get going," every single knight said as they turned and charged up the bridge. Goofy and Minnie were pretty darn close behind.

"I'm just glad they waited for us!" Riku yelled over the stopping feet and the din of laser fire.

"Count your blessing now Riku," Sora replied loudly as he shot a few fire balls back at the Stormtroopers. "You might not get the chance later!"

"Will you two quit yammering and just run?" Max asked.

"Don't let them reach the ship!!" Sienex yelled as he swooped low over the Imperial troops. "The ship's shields are too great for our cruisers to deal with!"

"You do now we heard that, right?" Riku called back before firing Dark Aura over his shoulder, which took down a good five troops.

The group jumped onto the ramp. Chip and Dale must have gotten the message and started slowly retracting it.

Not like that was going to stop Captain Sienex.

The Captain shot towards them, the Gravity spell having worn off. But he wasn't going to get any closer. Riku threw up a Dark Wall, allowing Sienex to crash right into it.

"Let's get going!" Riku yelled as the ship slowly rose into the sky and the group reached the gates. They swung open to admit them just as the bridge finished receding and the ship entered space.

"Wait," Max muttered, shifting Kairi's form on his shoulders. "How are we supposed to breathe when we're in space?"

"There's your answer, Max," Sora replied. The pointed to the huge see-through bubble that was insulating the entire Castle.

"So we've got a shield and that thing protecting us," Riku said with a smirk. "There is no way that blockade is stopping us."

Right on cue, the massive ships came into view, and opened fire.

"Let's see what this thing can do!" Sora pumped his fist into the air triumphantly.

**Meanwhile, in the gummi ship hanger...**

Chip flew the massive ship as Dale and several computers manned the guns.

"Are we ready?" Dale asked.

"Engines operating at 85%, shields operating at 92%, weapons operating at 100%," Chip replied in an extra squeaky and excited voice. "No time for a test run. Let's hope it works as well as it did in the simulators!"

**On a Star Destroyer bridge...**

Tarkin looked out the window at the huge craft streaking towards his fleet.

"Orders sir?" Piett asked.

"Open fire," Tarkin replied. "But I only want them crippled so we can board. Vader will kill me if he finds out that his prize slipped through our fingers."

"He is already coming to the system to assist," Piett informed.

"When will he arrive?"

"T-minus five minutes."

"Good," Tarkin muttered. "Hold them in the system until then."

**Back in the gummi ship hanger...**

Chip's chair electronically swung by a metal beam to a different position so he could reach a Castle-wide intercom system.

"Everyone? This is your captain-and-piolt-and-builder speaking," he said. "You will be pleased to know that we have left the world. You will be less pleased with the fact that we are streaking towards the Imperial blockade. So please strap yourselves down to anything sitting around and hold on tight!"

At that moment Riku and King Mickey charged into the hanger.

"Chip! Dale!" Mickey yelled. "Activate the warp drive and get us out of here!"

"We would do that if we could sir!" Dale replied as his chair swung towards the two. "But a ship this large needs antiquate charge-up time before we can make the jump!"

"How long?" Riku asked nervously.

"Five minutes almost down to the nano-seconds," Dale replied.

"Can we hold out?" Mickey asked.

"I'm sure of it!" Dale said as his chair swung back to it's position at the computer terminal.

"Hey! You got any smaller craft laying around?" Riku asked.

"We currently have one Kingdom-class vessel ready for use," Dale replied as a back virtual reality helmet lowered over his head. "Now let's scrap some ships!"

"I'm with ya all the way!" Chip said. "I'll keep us away from the larger ships while the warp drive charges up." He flipped a few switches as a similar helmet covered his head.

"Come on your Majesty," Riku said.

"Where to?"

"We need that ship," Riku muttered as he walked up to a computer terminal.

"What ship?" King Mickey asked.

"The Mabrik," Riku replied. "It's still down on the surface."

"Riku, we don't have time to go and get your ship," Mickey said with a stern tone. "We have less than five minutes!"

"No, we don't have time to go get my ship," Riku retorted with a hint of sarcasm as he pressed a button. A Kingdom level one gummi ship slowly floated into the hanger. "But we do have time to get a ship which has the coordinates for several worlds who's gates are _already open_."

Mickey saw where he was going. "Alright, but we gotta be quick," Mickey said as the ship's cockpit oppened. The two quickly jumped in the ship and flew out of the hanger.

Outside of the Castle was a total disaster.

Riku swerved violently the second they left the ship's shield to avoid one of the small crafts which almost hit him.

"What are these things?" Riku asked as one swooped low over them and fired a few times.

"TIE Fighters," Mickey replied. "Standard dogfighters of the Imperial Navy."

"These people got it all, don't they?" Riku asked, almost smirking.

The tiny ship streaked towards the world as the radio projected Chip's voice: "Your Majesty! What's wrong? Why'd you take off?"

"We gotta get something important from the surface," Riku replied. "And if we aren't back by the time the warp drive is ready, leave anyway."

"What? No way are we leaving you and the King behind!"

It was Sora's voice.

"Stay out of this Sora," Riku gritted his teeth.

"Guys, it's an order," Mickey said. "Get everyone to safety."

"Where at?" Chip asked.

"Get the Castle to Raideant Gardaen for now," Mickey aswered. "If I don't arrive soon, Leon will figure something out."

"Right," Sora replied, a hint of regret in his voice.

"See ya soon, your Majasty!" Dale said as the conection ended.

The ship was already approaching the surface. "We landed around there," Riku said, pointing.

The Mabrik was still sitting where they had landed a little bit before.

"Right, now let's hurry," Mickey said as he started the landing sequence.

"No time, you Majesty!" Riku said shortly as he pressed a button on the control panel, making the cockpit open. Riku jumped out at fifty feet and streaked towards the ground.

Mickey sighed and turned the ship around. "He's gonna get himself killed one of these days..."

Riku, luckily, crashed in a small but deep pond. He jumped out and ran up to The Mabrik. Quickly looking around, he didn't see any Impereals. Then he walked up the entry ramp.

Wait.

_"We closed the entry ramp before we left... didn't we?"_

In the cabin area were three Stormtroopers.

"Alright, the tracking device is set, incase they come back for the ship," one of them said. "Now then, let's move out-URK!!"

Riku stabbed him in the back (quite literally) before taking the other two out. Riku tossed the bodies out of the ship and onto the ground before closing the door tight and scrabbling up the ladder to the cockpit.

He established radio contact with Mickey. "Your Majesty?" he asked as he started the ship's engines.

"What is it Riku?"

Riku sighed. "I'm sorry, but..." he stopped as the ship lifted into the air. "... I'm not going to be able to come with you."

"What?" Mickey asked. "Why not?"

"I heard some Stormtroopers," Riku replied. "They said that there is a tracking device planted somewhere on this ship. It's a small ship but it could still take me ages to find the thing."

Mickey didn't respond for a long time. Then, finally, he replied with, "Alright. Take care of yourself, and don't let them catch you."

"Don't worry," Riku said with a little chuckle. "I've got a place I can hide where no one will suffer other than me if I'm caught."

"Where's that?"

"I can't tell you," Riku replied. "Sora would come and try to find me, and who knows what could have happened by then."

"I understand," Mickey said before the transmission was cut.

**In the gummi ship hanger...**

Sora, Queen Minnie and a recently revived Kairi stood waiting for Riku and the King to return, but soon Chip announced, "The warp drive is ready!"

"No way!" Sora yelled. "There's no way that we're leaving the King and Riku!"

"Sorry, Sora, it was on his orders!" Chip said, and started reaching for the button.

"Wait!" Dale exclaimed. "Ship incoming! It's the King! Lift shields!"

"Uh, wouldn't we get ripped apart if we 'lift shields'?" Kairi asked. Sora gritted his teeth as the entire Castle rocked.

At that moment the King flew into the hanger.

"Your Majesty!" Sora yelled as the mouse king climbed out of the ship. "Where's Riku?"

"Get those shields up and get us out of here!" Mickey shouted up at Chip and Dale, ignoring the Keybearer. "There are a bunch of TIE Fighters inside the shield now, so take them out!"

"You got it your Majesty!" Chip and Dale replied in unison as their chairs swung back to their respective computers.

"Your Majesty?" Kairi started. "Where's Riku?"

"I want us away from here and to Radiant Garden NOW!" Mickey cried up at the chipmunks even more forcefully.

"Where's Riku?!?" Sora snatched Mickey's shirt and lifted him violently into the air, summoning his Keyblade threateningly.

"Put me down this instant!" Mickey growled as Minnie and Kairi gasped in shock.

"Not until you tell me where Riku is!"

"He's on The Mabrik," Mickey replied.

"Nice try," Sora gritted his teeth.

"He's on The Mabrik in space."

"Stop messing with me!" Sora yelled.

"Sora! Calm down!" Kairi said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Where is he?" Sora yelled again, shrugging Kairi's hand off.

"There's a tracking device on his ship so he's going somewhere else so the Imperials don't attack Radiant Garden." Mickey said, finally giving in.

"Where is he going?"

"He didn't tell me because he was afraid you would try and follow," Mickey answered, almost sounding smug.

"Well, I'm gonna get him on the radio before he leaves the space around Disney Castle and figure out where he's-!"

Suddenly a huge explosion rocked the entire Castle so much that Sora, Kairi, Minnie and Mickey all went flying.

"Your Majesties!" Chip yelled down the them as they got on their feet. "You've got to see this!"

Suddenly a huge projector screen fell down from the ceiling and the lights dimmed.

"Chip and Dale productions now proudly bring you..." a male voice said as the film started playing. "... Our Worst Nightmare."

Suddenly the screen changed and showed a ship. But not just any ship.

Wow.

One Star Destroyer was just a bit bigger that Disney Castle. The ship that had just shown up, though shaped like a Star Destroyer, was easily seven times bigger than one of the normal ones, and then some.

"Yeah..." Kairi muttered. "I'd be hitting that warp button. Like right now."

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Chip yelled in response as he smashed his fist down on the huge warp drive button.

"NO!!" Sora cried out one last time before the ship jerked violently and they were off.

Of course, now Riku had to deal with the ship.

"O.k., I'm sure _that_ one is overkill," Riku muttered. He shook his head as he saw the massive craft that had just entered the system.

Riku sighed as several TIE Fighters noticed him and started to fly towards him.

"I'd like to see you try," Riku smirked. At that moment the warp drive finished charging. "See ya later!" And with that, The Mabrik disappeared and shot off towards it's destination.

**Back in the gummi ship hanger...**

"Why?!" Sora cried into his hands. Tears were flowing down his face. "Why did he do that? I just found him again!!"

"Sora..." Kairi placed a hand on his back. "Riku did what he thought was right. And if there's one thing we know about him, it's that he never gives up. We'll see him again."

"Not if he gets blown to smithereens by that frickin' monster of a ship!!"

"Sora!" Mickey yelled. "Get a grip!" And with that, Mickey punched Sora hard in the gut. That guy was little, but he could really punch. "Riku is going to be fine!"

"Yeah, just remember what Donald told ya."

Everyone turned to see Goofy, Donald and Max standing behind them. "No frowning, no sad faces," Goofy finished.

"This ship runs on smiles too!" Donald quacked.

Sora looked at them. "But-,"

"And if you want to see Riku again, sitting around and crying about it isn't going to help him get back to you," Max cut him off. "Get off your ass and take action. That's what I always say."

"Sora..."

Sora looked at Kairi. She reached up and wiped a tear off his face.

"He can handle himself."

Sora and Kairi's eyes locked. Neither of them so much as moved.

"Oh great. They're having a 'moment'," Max sighed. Goofy shushed him, but it was too late. Sora and Kairi surfaced and shook their heads a little bit. Their 'moment' was over.

"Er... right," Sora said, wiping away the last of the tears. "Let's... let's just get back to Radiant Garden." He looked up to Chip and Dale. "How long is the trip going to take?"

"About fifteen hours," Dale replied. "Even with all the engines this thing ain't too fast."

"Right," Sora said before walking off and out of the hanger.

Goofy was about to go after him when Kairi stopped him. "That's just how he deals with it," Kairi told him. "He just tries not to think about whatever is bothering him. He'll be back to good old goofy-smile-optimistic Sora in no time."

His smile...

Yeah...

Just seeing him smile... made Kairi smile...

**No disclaimers this time around that haven't already been covered. Oh wait.... Grand Moff Tarkin and Captain Piett.**

**And, even though he was only mentioned...**

**Darth Vader.**

**Dun dun dun........**

**Yeah. I clearly don't own him.**


	4. New Developments

**This chapter is gonna be a bit shorter, but it was the only way I could save it from being about forty pages long. The next chapter will be around thirty pages. Anyway, onward!**

**Chapter 4: New Developments**

**On one of the Star Destroyers around the world Disney Castle...**

Captain Piett stood on the bridge as Grand Moff Tarkin approached.

"They got away," Piett reported.

"Was the homing device secure onboard the small vessel they used to land?" Tarkin asked.

"Yes sir," Piett replied. "However, I believe that the boy Riku discovered the tracking device. We found three men slaughtered near where the ship had landed. After examining their wounds, we have reason to believe Riku killed them."

"And the tracking device?"

"Still operating sir, but-"

"But what then?" Tarkin asked angrily, whirling on Piett. "If the tracking device is secure, then how will we not find where the Castle went?"

"Riku doesn't know where the device is yet," Piett answered. "Or he is leaving it on purposely to lure us into a trap."

"WHAT DOES IT MATTER?!?"

"That he didn't go with the Castle," Piett replied, wiping a bit of spit off his face. "He plotted his own course."

Tarkin didn't respond for a while. Then, he said, "Very well. Go report our-... _your_ failure to Lord Vader on his ship."

"Ye... Yes sir," Piett said nervously, and, with a quick bow, walked off the bridge, an cloud of dread surrounding him.

**In Sora's chambers on Disney Castle...**

Sora woke abruptly from his light sleep. He had dreamed about something... What was it?... He couldn't remember. He shrugged, stretched out on his bed and looked at the ceiling. His room was nothing more that a small circle with stone walls and a bed. There was a small wardrobe and a door that lead to a bathroom.

It was then that Sora realized that his clothes, toothbrush, and DS were on the Mabrik. Along with his best friend.

To sum it up, it sucked to be Sora right then.

**In Kairi's chambers on Disney Castle...**

Kairi had just come to the same realization as Sora. Her room was just the same as Sora's except for the fact that it had a small square window that looked out on the Castle's courtyard. She opened the door to her wardrobe and was shocked. It was filled to the brim with pants and tops. And there were a few other cabinets inside that contained... well... more private stuff.

Well, that certainly made life easier.

"Hello!"

"GGHHAAA!!"

Kairi screamed at the voice from no where. "Who... who's there?"

"Up here!"

Kairi looked up. The top of her wardrobe had a face.

Oh. Well then.

"Uh... you're a wardrobe," Kairi said, staring dumbly at the face.

"Well, I hope you're right or otherwise I think I've gone crazy!" the wardrobe replied with a laugh. It... er... had a female voice, so... she?

"Yeah..." Kairi said with a nervous chuckle. She almost said, _"I'm sure _I've_ gone crazy,"_ but she kept her mouth shut.

**In the courtyard...**

Max and Goofy walked somewhat bleakly down a long hall of the corridor of the castle, gazing out the window at the endless reaches of the cosmos.

"Dad?" Max looked up at his father.

"Yeah?"

"Did Mickey say that we were going to Radiant Garden? You know, where Leon and all those other people live?" Max left out the fact that there were lots of Heartless.

"Well, yeah. Why, you want me to introduce you?" Goofy asked.

"Yeah... sure," Max answered. Goofy didn't notice when Max sighed.

**Meanwhile, in the World that Never Was...**

Finally. Maleficent had found and captured a huge castle that was teaming with Heartless. She had a huge army behind her. She had Pete, even if he was useless. Oh, she was ready to take over the worlds.

... Ready as ever.

... Any day now.

Oh yeah, she was stranded.

That complicated things.

Corridors of Darkness didn't work for her because she was already in the dark realm. So she was stuck.

But since when had little issues like that ever gotten the 'Mistress of All Evil' down?

"Pete!" Maleficent yelled to her bumbling assistant. They were in a new computerized room of their own creation.

"Yes, your evilness?" Pete asked, looking up from the jumble of cables he was trying to untangle.

"Is the device ready yet?"

"Almost. You can't rush perfection!" Pete said with a bit of a sing-song tone.

"I'm not rushing perfection. I'm rushing you!"

"Hey, I'm doing this as fast as I can, but a device like this takes a while to finish!" Pete replied, flustered.

"Just finish it! I'm getting impatient! The worlds have yet to taste the true darkness!"

"Hey Maleficent? What is this, uh, Bliss of Heart thing anyway?" Pete asked.

"That concerns you not," Maleficent replied snottily. "Your job is to get me off this world. Then you will be informed of our bigger mission."

Pete sighed but didn't have a choice but to keep on working on the large computer-like device which Maleficent had tasked him with building.

**Back on Disney Castle...**

Sora walked slowly through the halls of Disney Castle towards where Mickey had told him Kairi's room was. Maybe he could hang out with her for a bit to get his mind off of-

Uh... wow.

Kairi was walking through the hall towards him, but she wasn't in her usual pink and white attire. She was decked out in a lose white tank top that exposed her belly-button, with her hair tied back in a ponytail. The look was fluidly accompanied by blue jeans and black sneakers.

Sora prayed his mouth was closed. Apparently it wasn't, because Kairi reached for him and gently closed his slack jaw.

"Um... where did you get the clothes?" Sora asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"They were in my wardrobe," Kairi replied.

"Didn't Riku have our clothes and stuff?"

"Yeah, but my wardrobe is a _magic_ wardrobe," Kairi answered as if it was the most normal thing ever.

"...Right," Sora said slowly, discretely scanning Kairi's body. "It looks... uh... looks good."

"Thanks," Kairi said with a little smile.

"Attention all passengers," Dale's voice sounded over the loudspeaker. "I just want you to know that I have emerged victorious from a burping contest against Chip, Donald and Lady Daisy!"

"YOU DID NOT JUST SAY THAT OVER THE LOUDSPEAKER!!" Daisy's voice echoed through every corner of the Castle, forcing Sora and Kairi to cover their ears.

"We're approaching Radiant Garden -stop stepping on me Donald!!- and ask that you prepare yourselves to disembark. If you want to of course," Chip said as sounds of fighting broke out. "Gummi Control Hanger Crew out!" he finished just as Donald said some less that decent things and the announcement ended.

"Back to Radiant Garden," Sora murmured.

"Maybe Leon and the others have found something on the Princess of Heart reincarnation thing," Kairi reminded him.

"Hopefully."

**Meanwhile, in Radiant Garden...**

Things were not going so well for the Restoration Committee.

Aerith's flu was worsening, and she was stuck in bed.

Leon had locked himself inside his house and wouldn't come out. Emo jerk.

And just when Cid and Tron thought they had found a file on the Princesses, they had discovered that it was only available to one user.

"One-hundred munny it's that son of a gun Xehanort's user," Cid muttered.

"Why do you think it's him?" Yuffie asked from the table as Cid and Tron tried to breach the seventh level of encryption guarding the password. Yuffie had only been mildly interested in their exploits and had been caught up in a game of Solitaire.

"This has got his stink all over it," Cid replied. "We've found tons of files recently but they've all been blocked off because of a user barrier. We've been able to access every single one of the old users but one. Our guess is it's Xehanort's, because a bunch of the files were on Darkness and the Princesses and Doors and stuff."

"That could just be the Door to Darkness program," Yuffie said.

"No way," Cid relied. "Just the titles of some of the files that we got a gander at before we were kicked out would make you want to throw up."

"Sounds gross," a new voice said.

Cid and Yuffie looked to the door to see a teenager who looked a little older than seventeen or eighteen. He had almost perfectly black hair that just came shy of his shoulders. He wore rectangle shaped glasses, the left lens of which was cracked a bit. His bangs fell over his right eye, making it a wonder that he could see at all. He had a soft but serious face that was lightly tanned, and his cheeks were covered with freckles. He was wearing a plain white tee-shirt with dirt and sweat smudges here and there. His cackey cargo pants looked a bit too big on him, and their pockets were just barely zipped up from being so full.

"Right then Jacob, what have you got for us?" Cid asked, turning to face the boy.

"First of all, Leon is still locked in his house," the boy, who's name must have been Jacob, replied. He, Cid and Yuffie all gave each-other looks that plainly said, _"Big surprise there,"_ before Jacob continued. "I stopped by Aerith's place; Merlin said she's getting worse. He had to put her under so she wouldn't over-excite herself."

"What do you think is wrong with her?" Yuffie asked.

"What ever it is, it ain't no flu, that's for sure," Cid replied before reaching into a drawer and pulling out a fat cigar.

"The gummi ship you tasked me with supervising is almost complete," Jacob said, this time directed exclusively at Cid. "Uh, would now be a good time to ask if you looked at my blueprint yet?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, the 'Mobile R.Q.'..." Cid muttered, lighting his cigar. "That thing is huge! You would have to use, like, what, 150 blocks to build that thing?"

"186 exactly sir," Jacob corrected.

"Precisely what I ment," Cid said. "So why in the world should I waist every last little bit of munny we have in our coffers to build a ship that large?"

"Because if we discover that the worlds that are being destroyed are being destroyed in a pattern-," Jacob started.

"And you would know about the worlds being destroyed how?" Cid asked, his eyes suddenly flaring.

"You told me to make the Restoration Committee's operations my operations. So even if I'm not part of the Committee, you technically said that I could spy-..._ attend _the meetings."

"Damn. I hate it when you find loop holes..." Cid muttered.

"Back to the ship?" Yuffie suggested.

"Right..." Cid said, sitting up in his seat. "Why should we build your huge-huge-huge-huge-huge ship?"

"Because if there is some way to predict which world will be attacked next, then we could use this my ship to get people on and off worlds before whatever the mysterious power is strikes," Jacob answered quite smartly.

"Huh," Cid muttered. "Well since you put it that way, I'll consider."

"And it would also make me extremely happy just to see one of my creations leave the computer and fly in the real world," Jacob blurted out.

"Yeah, whatever," Cid said, waving his hand and turning back to the computer.

_"Dang it,"_ Jacob thought. _"If I hadn't said that, he would probably be setting it up right now..."_

"Oh!" Jacob cried out. "And, uh, if we bring people from other worlds here, then that would increase our tax income!"

Oh, music to Cid and Yuffie's ears.

**In space over the world formerly known as Disney Castle...**

Grand Moff Tarkin was standing on the bridge as usual when Captain Piett walked up.

"So?" Tarkin asked with a little evil smirk. "How did it go?"

"Well, first I explained in detail what happened here to Lord Vader," Piett replied. "Then the meeting was interrupted when one of my men had an urgent message. You will recall how all the spy-bots in Disney Castle were destroyed?"

"I remember," Tarkin answered.

"One of them survived."

Tarkin wheeled on Piett. "What?!?"

"It was in the dungeons, so deep underground that we couldn't pick up any messages," Piett started. "But as the Castle mobilized and left the surface, we regained contact. The spy-bot sent us pictures. It sent us several pictures before the ship left the system, and thus, our range." Piett reached into a small pouch that had been slung over his shoulder. "These are the pictures." He drew them out and thrust them at Tarkin. The old man took them and quickly started flipping through. "The pictures show the hanger, which is also the ship's control room. The pictures which we collected were invaluable."

Tarkin came to the last one. "I see nothing so special."

"Not until we use zoom on the control room pictures. They reveal the exact coordinates of the world which they are traveling to. Recordings state that it is Radiant Garden, the one which we filmed that King and his Queen conversing upon."

"So we have the coordinates to where they flew," Tarkin said, his face showing a hint or two of shock.

"Quite right sir," Piett replied. "And since the spy-bots in the Castle was my idea, I informed Lord Vader."

"What did he say?" Tarkin asked.

"That I now have command of this operation and you are removed to the 'Death Star' project. Effective immediately."

Tarkin scowled, but said, "You can inform Lord Vader that I will be far away from this world before the hour is out."

Grand Moff Tarkin stalked off without another word.

**Again, not too much action. But we got to see Maleficent and Pete, so I hope that suffices. **

**If you are wondering where Jacob is from, you can stop. He is my character, and I own him. THAT'S RIGHT!!! I'M CLAIMING SOMETHING INSTEAD OF DENYING I OWN IT!!!**

**Wait... I already said I owned Captain Sienex... Ah, whatever.**


	5. The Plot Thickens

**Hold onto your hats folks, because this chapter is llllooooooonnnnnnnggggggg. If every word in here was written like that it would be even longer. However, we get a major turning point, a long awaited moment and a fair amount of action, so that should suffice. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 5: The Plot Thickens!**

**At Radiant Garden...**

Sora, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Max, and about half of the now homeless Disney Castle residents walked down the ramp into the Radiant Garden shopping district. Sora, Kairi, and Max took off for Merlin's house while the King, Donald and Goofy tried to keep everyone under control until Leon could find a place for them to stay.

The three teens were walking through the streets and turned a corner, when Sora bumped into (quite literally) a boy who looked a few years older than him with dark hair and glasses.

"Oh... sorry," Sora said, backing up a bit.

"It's fine," the boy said. "You're Sora?"

"Uh... yeah," Sora replied, scratching his head. "And how would you know that?"

"Primarily because you are a local teenage idol," the boy replied.

"Teenage idol?" Sora asked. "I've hardly ever seen any kids at all here."

"There are less Heartless, so people are less afraid to get out and about."

"Right," Sora said, less than happy to be having this conversation. "Do you idolize me?" Sora paled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that..."

"That's alright," the boy replied with a smile. "And no, I don't idolize you, primarily because I'm _smart_."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Most of your fans are cutting school so they can 'be like you'."

Sora didn't say anything. Kairi and Max passed laughter off as coughing.

The boy noticed them. "Ah! Princess Kairi!" the boy said as he stepped around Sora. "A true honor to meet you again, dearest Princess of Radiant Garden."

"I was only four when I left... I don't remember it that much," Kairi replied, blushing a bit. "Wait... _again_?"

"I've a good memory, even though I was only eight or so when this world was claimed by the darkness. I remember it well, and I remember a lots about you," the boy said to Kairi.

"About me?"

"I worked in the Castle for a good bit of my young life, and spent my last two years there as your caretaker," the boy replied.

Kairi's eyes widened. "... What's your name?"

"Jacob," the boy replied.

"Uh... right," Kairi searched for words. This kid knew her when she was little... "I was a Princess?"

"I suppose you wouldn't remember," Jacob started. "Traveling between worlds by means of Darkness can be a traumatic experience. You may have lost your memory from shock or fear."

"Why didn't Leon and the others tell me..." Kairi wondered aloud.

"Probably because you would have been all, like, 'I order you to take me to be with Sora now!'" Sora said in a Kairi-at-fourteen imitation. "'But it's way to dangerous where he is!'" Sora added in a Leon voice. "'I don't care!'" Sora said, back to the Kairi voice. "'This is an order from your Princess!'"

Kairi and Max laughed, and Jacob smiled a bit. Then Jacob turned to Max

"You look like what Leon and the others described Goofy as," Jacob said. "Are you... a relative?"

"I'm his son," Max replied, sticking out his hand. "My name is Max." Jacob took the dog's hand and shook it. "Wait, did you say you know Leon and the others?"

"Oh!" Jacob cried out. "I completely forgot! You'll be wanting to see them."

And so the four of them trooped off, Jacob and Max talking with each other while Sora and Kairi hung back a bit and started talking as they walked.

"You remember him?" Sora asked.

"I told you, I don't remember anything," Kairi replied quickly.

"If that kid is, like, eighteen, then he would have been six or seven when you were two," Sora quickly did a little math. "I wonder how well he remembers you..."

"I don't know," Kairi muttered, looking back to Jacob and Max.

Suddenly Kairi staggered as if she had been struck, and her mind was ripped away from her body. Suddenly she felt herself flying through time into the past...

_She was in a small room, surrounded with a bunch of little kid toys, her grandmother and a much younger Jacob sitting in chairs across the room from her. _

_"I'm going to teach you how to take care of her," Kairi's grandmother said, looking at Jacob. "I don't know how much longer I have."_

_"Is it really that bad, ma'am?" Jacob asked._

_"Yes. It is incredibly painful."_

_"Well, I guess that you need to start teaching me."_

The scene changed.

_"How much longer do we have, mister Ansem?" Jacob asked._

_Kairi was laying on a small sofa, felling very drowsy and not really paying attention to the conversation that was taking place across the room from her._

_"She does not have much time left," Ansem the Wise replied. "The infection is spreading. We estimate two weeks tops." _

_"What should I tell Kairi?" Jacob asked, adjusting his yet to be broken glasses. _

_"Tell her the truth." Ansem replied. "Tell her that her grandmother is going to die." _

_That woke Kairi up a lot. "Wait," Kairi said sleepily, rubbing her eyes. "Did you say my grandma is going to die?" _

_"I told you we should have done this somewhere else," Ansem muttered as Jacob reached into the sack which was slung over his shoulder and pulled out a small wooden box. He walked over the Kairi quickly and got down on a knee next to her._

_"Here Kairi, listen to this." Jacob opened the box and a sweet, soft, relaxing tune filled the room. _

_Kairi was sure she had heard that music before. It was irrily familiar. Kairi listened carefully to the music, trying to figure out where she had heard it._

_All of the sudden, Kairi felt _exhausted_. "Wait," she thought. "The music! I've got to figure out... figure out.... figure...... out......."_

_Kairi fell forward onto Jacob's shoulder, fast asleep. "Ssshhleepy..." she murmured. Jacob patted her little head and lifted her back up onto the sofa, where she promptly curled up into a ball and started sucking on her thumb._

The scene changed.

_"That's right my Princess," a dark voice said. "Just relax and calm down. You're safe here..."_

_"Safe... here..." Kairi echoed as she curled up in the strange man's arms. "Just relax..."_

_"Just go to sleep, my Princess," the man continued. "Soon all this will be even less that a memory... noting but a forgotten dream..."_

_"Sleep..." Kairi said as her eyes closed. "Nothing but a dream..." The man's swift footsteps moved her up and down in a relaxing motion. A calm warmth washed over her as sleep claimed her body._

_"Nothing but a dream...."_

_"Nothing but a dream........"_

"KAIRI!!!"

"Aahhhaugg!!" Kairi fell to the ground in a daze.

"Are you o.k.?!?" Sora asked, dropping to the ground next to her.

"Your majesty!" Jacob ran over as well and fell to his knees next to the two teens. "What's wrong?"

"I..." Kairi started, wincing from the stinging pain in coming from her tailbone. "I think I just saw the ghost of Princess Past."

"The what?" Max asked as he ran over.

"I mean I think I just had a vision of my life here," Kairi explained as Sora helped her off the ground. "I saw you-" she pointed to Jacob. "-talking with my... I think she was my grandmother. She said that she didn't know how much time she had left, and that she was in great pain. Then she said that she was going to teach you how to take care of me."

"I remember that," Jacob said. "You were only two years old. That was when I was appointed as your caretaker."

"And then... then I saw you talking with an old man with long blond hair..." Kairi said, rubbing her rear end.

"Ansem the Wise?" Sora asked.

"Yeah..." Kairi said. "Jacob called him Ansem." She shook her head a bit. "Yeah. Now I remember him from the World that Never Was." She stopped for a moment before returning to the vision. "Jacob and Ansem were talking about... I think they were talking about my grandmother. They said she was sick and she was going to die." Kairi stopped. "The rest is kinda fuzzy... I was actually me, as in, me when I was younger, I wasn't watching from the side. I was back in time and it was all real." Kairi scratched her head. "I think I must have fallen asleep or something, because the end of that memory... it's not coming back to me."

"Anything else?" Jacob asked. Sora thought he detected a hint of worry in his voice, but he shrugged it off as common concern

"I... I know there was another memory after that, but I can't remember it either..." Kairi replied. "It's just a blank. I remember..." Kairi stopped and looked thoughtful. "I remember felling all relaxed, like nothing in the world could hurt me. Like someone was protecting me with their life. It was..." she paused again. "It was _wonderful_."

"Wonderful how?" Max asked.

"Wonderful as in I never wanted that feeling to end."

No one spoke. Then Max said, "You got any idea about the vague stuff, Jacob?"

He didn't reply, but looked thoughtful. After about thirty seconds, he said, "I haven't got a clue."

"Come on," Sora said. "Let's get to Merlin's. The King is waiting for us."

"King Mickey is here?" Jacob asked as they started walking.

"Yeah, we had to evacuate Disney Castle and come here because of Imperial invasion," Max said.

"Imperial?"

"We'll explain in a bit," Kairi said.

Just at that moment Cid came charging towards them from down the street. "No time to talk Jacob!" he said. "A HUGE ship just showed up outside the world shell. I mean HUGE!!!! You're ship ain't got nothing on this thing! Oh, hey Sora, Kairi..." Cid stopped in this tracks just as he passed them. He whirled around and looked at the group. "Giant ship got something to do with you?"

"Yeah, it's with us," Sora replied. "It's the entire Disney Castle with rockets strapped to the bottom."

"Welp, that'll be a site to withhold," Cid chuckled a bit.

"I'm dead serious," Sora said. "Disney Castle was attacked and we had to evacuate."

"It was attacked by Heartless?" Cid asked.

"No, that's not what I mean," Sora said. "We'll explain everything back at Merlin's. Call Yuffie, Leon, and Aerith-"

"Leon's in his house and _will not_ come out and Aerith is still sick," Jacob reported quickly.

"Then get Yuffie," Sora said angrily.

**In Merlin's house...**

Sora, Kairi, Max, Jacob, Cid, Yuffie and Merlin sat around the table in the middle of the room. Max had explained about the Empire and about the refuges from Disney Castle. Cid was standing up to go and help Mickey get everyone sorted out when Leon walked in.

"Hey guys," he said gloomily.

"Where were you?!" Cid asked angrily.

"In my house, sulking," Leon replied. "What of it?"

Cid didn't reply, but he muttered something that sounded like _'Emo creep'_.

"I've already gotten the people from Disney Castle all settled; Donald, Goofy, and the King should be here any minute."

"Oh, well then, while we're on break..." Yuffie said, turning to Kairi, "First: nice duds."

"Uh... thanks?"

"Second: where's Riku?"

No one said anything.

Kairi broke the silence. "He found out that there was a homing device on his ship but he didn't know where, so he went all noble and flew off by himself to some world. He didn't tell us where he was going."

"Well, _duh_."

Everyone looked at Yuffie. "What world," she started. "Is currently unoccupied and it's gate is wide open?" No answer. "Hint: It's where Sora met us for the first time."

"Traverse Town!"

**Meanwhile, in Traverse Town...**

Riku landed the Mabrik right in the middle of the First District. He got out and looked around: all the lights were out, and the doors to the restaurant, the accessory shop, the item shop, Geppeto's house, and the Third District were all boarded up.

No one was around.

Whew... that was close.

"And now to work," Riku said out loud, since no one could hear him anyway. The ship's computer had narrowed it down, and the tracking device was somewhere on the outside of the ship. It shouldn't take long to find it, Riku thought, because the ship was all white and light blue.

Oh, how wrong he would find himself to be.

**Back in Radiant Garden...**

Sora hurled himself at the door, only to bump off of Goofy's chest. He was in his traveling clothes again.

"Oh! Sorry Goofy!" Sora said as he and the dog picked themselves off the ground.

"It's o.k.!" Goofy replied as he dusted himself off. "But what's the rush?"

"We think we know where Riku went," Kairi said as she walked over. "Traverse Town!"

"Well, I guess that would make some sense..." Goofy said, scratching his chin. "But I'da thought that the Heartless would have overrun that world by now, what with it being abandoned and all."

"Goofy's right," Leon said. "We need to go and back Riku up."

Just then the King and Donald walked in. "What's up guys?" Donald asked, also dressed in his traveling attire.

"We think we know where Riku went," Kairi repeated.

"Uh-hu!" Goofy said. "We think he headed to Traverse Town!"

"Welp, we should probably get going!" Mickey said. "Who knows how long he'll be able to hold up against the Heartle-"

BOOM!!!!!!!

"Duck and cover!!" Sora yelled as everyone dove to the floor. A shock wave seemed to make the ground vibrate underneath them as some dust fell from the ceiling.

"What the bloody hell was that?!?" Cid yelled.

"Watch your mouth!" Merlin shot at him.

BOOM!!!!!!!!!!

Suddenly an even bigger explosion noise shock the entire house, and anything that wasn't strapped down went flying, including everyone on the floor. Everyone flew up into the air before crashing painfully back down.

"O.k., you've played my curiosity," Jacob said to himself, standing up. He walked slowly to a window and looked out.

"Alright, explosion number one: Disney Castle crashing into the Great Maw."

"WHAT?!?" everyone yelled.

"Explosion number two: a huge blast from a weird knife shaped ship blowing up the slums on the North side of town."

"What?" Mickey cried. "That's where we put half my people!!!"

Sora looked at him as if asking, '_the slums?'_

"That's the only place where there was room!" Mickey told him. Then he looked to Jacob. "How much damage did the Castle sustain?"

"It's flyable," Jacob said. "Granted you can get it out of the spot where it's wedged in the Great Maw."

"It's stuck?" Mickey asked fearfully.

"It's stuck," Jacob replied.

"Wait," Sora stopped the two of them. "Did you just say 'knife shaped ships'?"

Jacob nodded.

"Holy crap," Sora whispered in a panic.

Everyone rushed outside to see seven Star Destroyers descending upon the city, drop ships already landing around the edge of town.

"Leon!" Mickey yelled. "Tell your people to get indoors! They aren't going to shot people who don't put up a fight. They're going to try and occupy this world after they take us out and capture Sora."

"Seriously, why do they want me so bad?" Sora asked.

A plan was set into motion. Cid went to do what he could about the computer and to tell Tron not to let anyone at the information in the system.

"Affirmative, user Cid," Tron said before the computer shut down and locked up.

Leon, Donald, Max, and Goofy went to rally the knights and get everyone indoors.

Mickey and Yuffie left to check the damage to Disney Castle and help anyone get off who stayed on when they had first landed.

Merlin ran off to retrieve Aerith.

Sora and Kairi were still standing there when Cid ran back out. "O.k., that's all set up, so Jacob, I want you to-"

But Jacob was gone.

"Dang... the one time I need him," Cid muttered before turning to Sora and Kairi. "You two better get going. Help hold them off until I get my ship ready."

"You have a ship that can get us off world?" Sora asked.

"Just us though: You two, me, Jacob, Yuffie, Leon, Aerith, Merlin -... well, if we have to...-, the King, Donald, Goofy, and a few extra rooms..."

"One of which will be for me!"

Suddenly a woman leapt down from one of the nearby buildings and landed in the middle of the group. She had long black hair and a black dress to match.

Sora's eyes brightened up. "Hey Tifa!"

"Hey Sora," she said with a smile.

"How fares the hunt?" Sora asked.

"Not too well," Tifa sighed. "He's not here anymore." She glanced at the redhead standing next to Sora. "You must be Kairi."

"Uh... right. I'm Kairi.... Your name is Tifa?" Kairi asked as Tifa nodded. "And, uh, how do you fight without a weapon?"

Tifa walked over to a random building and, with a single punch, brought the wall down.

**A few minutes later...**

Sora, Kairi, and Tifa ran through the town for a bit before reaching the shopping district. It was a mess. Dead Stormtroopers and knights lay everywhere, and Sora noticed two moggles carrying a RPG leaving the area.

"When things that cute are carrying something that destructive, it's a bit disturbing," Kairi said. She had seen them too. Sora nodded in agreement.

"Here," Sora said, picking up a dead Stormtrooper's rifle and checking it. "Fully loaded by the looks of it," he said as he handed it to Kairi.

"The sooner I get my Keyblade back the better," Kairi muttered before clumsily lifting the rifle and holding it at the ready. A group of Stormtroopers took notice of the three and dove behind some cover.

Sora and Tifa charged them as Kairi attempted to get a clear shot. "Hya!!" Tifa cried as she grabbed a Stormtrooper from behind his cover and swung him around over her head before hurling him at a nearby building.

Sora jumped into action with his Keyblade just as a few knights ran into the area as well and joined the fight.

In all the excitement Kairi didn't notice a Stormtrooper sneaking up behind her. He was about to shoot when...

"NOT THIS TIME!!!"

Kairi whipped around just in time to see Jacob leap from from a nearby building and unload a laser machine gun on a Stormtrooper who was about to shoot her. The trooper crumpled to the ground after seconds.

Jacob landed next to Kairi, easily holding his gun in one hand while Kairi held the same type with two.

"Er... thanks," Kairi said.

"It was my job to protect you," Jacob said. "No one ever relieved me of duty."

"Well, I do as of now," Kairi said.

"Negative," Jacob replied. "You do not have a position of high enough authority to give that command."

"Who does?" Kairi asked.

"I think all of them are dead," Jacob said, shrugging casually.

"So I'm stuck with you?" Kairi asked.

"Don't worry," Jacob said with a smirk. "I'm not going to be crashing any of your dates or anything."

Suddenly an explosion sent both of them flying. After crashing back to the ground, Jacob saw a Stormtrooper with a rocket launcher standing on the roof tops. Jacob glanced to his side; Kairi had been knocked out.

"Damn it."

Jacob discarded the broken rifle and wiped out twin pistols. He rolled across the street to avoid another shot and scooped Kairi up off the ground before returning fire with his pistols. It took two shots for him to hit the trooper from all the way across the shopping district.

Tifa and Sora had teamed up and were kicking some major butt when five knights broke away from a few troopers they had been dealing with and joined those two. One of the Stormtroopers must have thought that the situation was out of hand, because he threw a grenade.

"Take cover!!" Sora yelled as the grenade hit the ground. He and the knights dove behind whatever was handy while Tifa jumped up onto a nearby building.

BANG!!

"Report!" one of the knights yelled.

"I'm good!" Sora yelled. Sounds of agreement came from the knights. "You o.k. Tifa?" No response. "Tifa?"

The Stormtroopers were walking towards the knights' and Sora's cover with their weapons up.

"Come out with your hands where I can see them!" one of them ordered.

"O.k., if you insist..." Suddenly about five troopers got a fistful of Tifa. "...but you kinda walked right into that one."

"I'm with you there!" Jacob yelled as he flipped through the air gracefully with Kairi over his shoulder and fired at the troopers, taking them all out. He landed next to Tifa and holstered his guns.

"What happened to Kairi?!?" Sora asked urgently as he ran over.

"Rocket Launcher explosion," Jacob replied. "She hit her head hard, but she should be fine."

Suddenly Jacob's cell phone went off.

"Hey, who's calling?" Sora asked as he tried to get a glimpse of the phone over Jacob's shoulder in a very childish way.

"How should I know?" Jacob asked flipping his phone open, making an overly exaggerative shrug to block Sora's view. Sora spun around to Jacob's front and observed. His eyes seemed to widen as he saw the caller ID. Or was it just Sora's imagination? They seemed normal now. Sora got a quick glimpse at the phone. The ring-tone was titled 'Winterwood'. Sora was about to look at the caller ID when Jacob moved the phone to his ear.

Jacob pressed the pick-up button, cutting the song short. "I told you not to call me on this... What?... No, not yet... Uh-hu... Uh-hu... No... No, they're focusing on Disney Castle... No... What? No! We can't do that!!... Right... Right... Yes sir... see you there."

Jacob flipped the phone shut and sheathed it in the holder on his belt. He turned to the knights. "Hold your position," he ordered. "We'll send anyone we meet to assist. There is no way we can win this battle. Keep them at bay here for about ten minutes then retreat to Disney Castle. You'll have better cover there. If you are surrounded and the odds are clearly against you, you will surrender. Is that clear?"

"We would rather die than be taken by the enemy, young man," the leader of the knight group said.

"I can understand a patriot," Jacob said. "But there is going to be a man slaughter. There already has been. The Empire will not kill you if you surrender. Or at least that's what King Mickey feels. We can't win the day. That's why a few of us are escaping so we can amass more troops and come back to get you out of prison. Then we can fight them off of this world."

"But sir-" one of the knights started.

"These orders come directly from King Mickey," Jacob said. "Is that clear?"

"Sir, yes sir!" the five of them cried out in unison.

"Good," Jacob said. "Be safe. You're no good to us dead." Jacob gave them a quick salute of respect, which they returned. Jacob turned his back to them and walked off into the streets, beckoning Sora and Tifa to follow.

"Alright, so what's going on?" Sora asked.

"We're taking the ship which I believe Cid already mentioned to you," Jacob replied.

"How do you know about that?" Sora asked.

"I was following you in the shadows the entire time," Jacob answered. "My job is to protect Princess Kairi. No one relieved me of duty."

"Is that how locked into service you are?" Tifa asked.

"Pretty much."

"Then were the heck were you when Kairi lost her Heart to the Darkness?" Sora questioned.

"Right where I was supposed to be," Jacob answered. "You had to find out on your own. Defeating Xehanort's Heartless was your destiny. I have a few tricks up my sleeve, but summoning a key-shaped weapon out of nowhere is not one of them."

"Er... right," Sora muttered. He hadn't expected a ready retort. Or was this kid just really good at thinking on his feet?

**At the Great Maw...**

Yuffie slashed through a Shadow Heartless with a well aimed kick while throwing ninja stars at Stormtroopers. "This is getting ridiculous!!" Yuffie yelled. "Those people have better cover inside the Castle! I mean, at least the shields are up!"

"Yuffie! You are a genius out of water!" Mickey cried back to her.

"Uh... Thanks!" Yuffie said happily as she caught her returning shuriken. "But what do you mean by 'out of water'?"

"As in it would be preferable for you to think of these things before we are way out of our league," Mickey replied sarcastically as TIE bombers swooped low over them. "Quick! To the Castle!"

Mickey and Yuffie turned their butts around and charged for Disney Castle, ignoring the Heartless that were appearing all around them.

**At the Heartless Manufactory...**

Cid stood back as he pressed a button on his remote. "No time for a test run," he muttered. "Let's get going!"

Suddenly in a flash of light, a huge gummi ship that looked a little like a blimp appeared in front of him. The name 'Shera' was written across the side.

Cid pulled out a cell phone and conferenced in all his speed dials. "Hey, I got the ship ready," Cid said. "Get to the hanger!"

"Right, Cid!" Jacob said.

"I'll be right there with Aerith," Merlin said, with sounds of coughing in the background.

"We'll be there," Leon informed.

"We aren't going to be able to come," Yuffie said unhappily.

"What?" Jacob asked. "Why not?"

"The King and I had to retreat to Disney Castle. We were being bombed," Yuffie explained. "We're going to try and find a way to join you, but it could take time..." Yuffie's voice trailed off.

"Don't worry!" a new, high-pitched voice said. "This is Chip, the captain of the Disney Castle, utilizing Miss Yuffie's phone. If your ship has a communication PIN, then I can set up a non-traceable video feed between our craft."

"Well of course my ship has a communication PIN!! What do you take me fer', some primitive cowboy?"

Cid could hear Jacob and Yuffie laughing in the background.

"So? What's your PIN?" Chip asked.

"53009," Cid replied slowly.

"Good then!" Chip said after a few seconds. "You are now on our 'buddy' list. We'll contact you if anything of importance comes up."

"What if we need to contact you?"

"Don't worry!" Chip answered. "The 'buddy' list put us on _your_ list too!"

"Right, then everyone who can, report to the hanger!" Cid said as he hung up.

**In the streets...**

"The hanger?" Sora asked as Jacob hung up.

"The Heartless manufactory after being reprogramed," Jacob explained.

"Well, quick, let's get going!" Tifa said excitedly as the small group took off.

**Later, in the Heartless manufactory...**

Leon, Donald, Max and Goofy burst in just behind Merlin. Merlin had enchanted all of the group's belongings into floating behind him, and now they were trooping onto the Shera_._

"How long until take off?" Leon asked as Cid walked over.

"Until everyone gets here. Then we're ready to go," Cid replied.

Merlin gasped. "Wait a moment," he said. "Sora and Kairi will be needing clothes." He waved his hands in the air and cried, "No more nakedness, alica-zoo!! Some shirts and pants for all of you!"

And suddenly two wardrobes appeared in front of him.

"Oh, my!" one of them said. "I was expecting to get blown up in that castle!" The other wardrobe didn't have a face, so it just sat there.

"WHAT was the spell?!?" Cid yelled a Merlin, who simply crossed his arms.

"I don't write them, I only use them," Merlin told Cid matter-of-factly.

Suddenly Sora, Kairi, Tifa and Jacob charged in as well.

"Where did you go?!" Cid cried angrily at Jacob as the group ran down towards him.

"I get tired of giving the same answerer," Jacob muttered.

"He says that it's his job to protect Kairi," Sora told Cid, gesturing to the girl who was still hanging limp over Jacob's shoulder. "The crappy thing is, it _is_ his job."

"Well, we better get on board," Cid said as Merlin made the two wardrobes he summoned float onto the Shera.

"Do we really have to leave the King and Yuffie?" Sora asked, upset.

"Let me guess," Jacob started. "You aren't going to leave without them even if we give you a perfectly logical answer?"

Sora nodded.

"I don't have to protect _you_, Sora."

Suddenly Sora was laying on the floor, knocked out, a large bump growing out the side of his head from where Jacob had hit him with one of his pistols.

Tifa picked up Sora without sparing Jacob a glance except a quick smirk and walked to the ship's loading ramp. Jacob was close behind with Kairi.

"Alright, let's light this candle!" Cid yelled as he boarded behind them. Leon, Donald, Goofy, Max, and Merlin were right behind.

"Where's Aerith?" Leon asked.

"She's already in the ship's medical lab," Merlin answered quickly.

"How is she?"

"She can hardly move," Merlin answered.

Then he realized the voice wasn't Leon's.

"Wait, who's there?"

Merlin, Leon, Donald and Max did a quick 360 of the hanger. No one was around.

"Who do ya figure that was?" Goofy asked.

"I don't know..." Donald quacked as he looked around. "Kinda screwy though..."

"Let's just get on the ship," Leon said as the others nodded and boarded behind him.

**On the bridge...**

Cid grabbed the wheel and looked out the huge glass wrap-around window in front of him. Down below the floor was glass, giving him a clear view of what, if anything, was happening below the ship.

"Let's get this puppy off the ground!" Cid yelled as he started the ship up.

"The sooner the better," Leon said as he rushed in. "I think the Imperials have gotten into the Cas-"

"Keep your britches on, I'm going," Cid said as the ship rose of the ground and flew out of the hanger.

There were TIE Bombers and TIE Fighters all around, and they could see Stormtroopers marching through the streets. Disney Castle was surrounded, but it's shields were holding, so no one was getting inside.

"Get us off world now," Leon said, regret in his voice.

"What, you gonna change your name again?"

Leon frowned at Cid. "There was someone in the hanger. We don't know who it was so we need to move."

The Shera shot past the Great Maw and away. "If we leave the world somewhere else, we can avoid the blockade," Jacob said as he walked up. "I checked the readings and the Star Destroyers are only over the town."

"Right, this looks good enough," Cid replied as he made the Shera fly almost vertically up into the sky and away from the world's surface.

**In Disney Castle...**

King Mickey and Yuffie were standing in a small, secret courtyard that gave them a clear view of the Shera leaving the world.

"Well, they're gone," Yuffie moaned.

"At least Sora got away safely," Mickey said.

"Is that all you care about? Sora?!?" Yuffie whirled on the mouse, fuming. "My whole world has just been taken over, and it isn't going to be long before those Imperil jerks come and ship me off to freaking labor camp or something!!"

"You don't understand," Mickey started. "If the Imperials got their hands on Sora, it would mean the end of all worlds!!!"

"Do enlighten me," Yuffie huffed.

Mickey stopped, realizing what he had just said. Then, he muttered, "I can't tell you Yuffie."

"And why not?!?"

Mickey sighed as he walked out of the courtyard. "It's complicated."

**In Sora's room on the Shera...**

"I can't believe that we had to abandon more people like that!" Sora yelled, slamming his forehead into a wall.

"Sora!" Kairi grabbed Sora, spun him around, and slapped him hard across his face. "I know you're upset," Kairi started angrily. "But you need to get a grip! I mean, it's not like we're never going to see them again!"

"Not if they get blown up! Not if they're killed by Imperials! Not if _we're_ killed!"

"Will you just shut up?!?"

"No Kairi, I not going to! I'm sick of having to worry about my friends all the time! The Organization took you, and I had no idea what they were doing to you! Riku had disappeared, and I had no idea where he was! And the entire time, Heartless and Nobodys were chasing me, and I had to worry about the people I was putting in danger! You have _no idea_, Kairi. No idea!!

"Yeah? Well, for whatever reason, over the year that you were gone, I completely forgot about you. But your shadow was always in my Heart. But I still didn't remember you. Do you know much that tore me apart? I couldn't stand it! I felt guilty for forgetting you, and I felt sad because I missed you!"

Neither of them said anything.

"I guess we both have something in common then," Sora said.

"What?" Kairi asked angrily.

"We both missed each other when we were apart."

Once again there was a pause.

"Sora..." Kairi started.

"Kairi, I first quest was all about finding you and Riku. Sure, it was about saving the worlds from Darkness, but I had something else to motivate me."

"Sora, please-"

"I missed you so much, even though you were with me the entire time. Imagine how I felt when you weren't with me at all, and I knew you were in danger."

Suddenly Kairi realized that Sora had taken a few steps towards her. "Sora, I never meant to-" But this time, she stopped on her own. She suddenly felt icy-cold all over, and couldn't move. She couldn't, that is, until she took an involuntary step towards Sora.

"I care about you Kairi."

Kairi felt Sora's hands touch her body. "... You care how?"

Kairi slowly wrapped her arms around Sora as well as the two of them drew nearer.

"I care a lot," Sora said.

They closed their eyes.

"I... I care about you too, Sora..."

**Uh-oh!! I see trouble coming!**

**So here's a quick recap incase you head is spinning: Jacob reveals that Kairi is the Princess of Radiant Garden and that he is her bodyguard. Radiant Garden is attacked and many knights and civilians are wiped out. Sora, Kairi, Cid, Leon, Merlin, Aerith, Tifa, Jacob, Max, Donald, and Goofy all escape on the Shera, but King Mickey and Yuffie are left behind in the shielded Disney Castle!! How long can they hold out?**

**Oh, and Sora and Kairi share their first kiss.**

**YAOZZA!!!!!**

**Disclaimers: I don't own 'Winterwood' by Don McLean. I don't own Tifa either, or Moogles. I don't own Cid's ship, the Shera.**

**Winterwood is a hint at Jacob's past. If you've heard the song, you should know what I'm talking about. If not, find in on the Internet (God bless search engines) or wait for the end of the story. You'll hear the whole thing then anyway.**

**Kairi's final dream sequence is when she was abducted by Xehanort. The other scenes will be re-examined some time in the future.**

**Phew! I need some water!**


	6. Plans and Escapes

**You may have guessed by now, but this story is pre-typed on a computer. You lucky dogs.**

**Chapter 6: Plans and Escapes**

**In Jacob's room on the Shera...**

Jacob watched his computer screen as Sora and Kairi kissed. He had set up security cameras in both of their rooms. Never can be too safe with teens.

However, he was worried about something very important...

Suddenly he stopped and glanced at the screen again. He quickly took a picture.

Just for posterity.

Or blackmail.

Maybe both.

**Back in Sora's room...**

Sora and Kairi kissed for a good minute and a half before they needed air. Surprising that they didn't need air that long, after all that yelling they just did.

Almost the second their lips separated, the two of them threw the other off.

"I... I..." Kairi tried to say something.

"I'm sorry!" Sora cried, a few tears actually leaving his eyes. "I don't know what came over me!"

Part of Kairi screamed, _"You're _sorry_?!? Come on, we gotta get busy again!!"_ but the dominant part of her mind made her say, "Er... I... I didn't mean..."

Yeah, that's how smart Kairi is. I mean, _come on!!_

Anyway, Kairi must have known that she was making a fool out of herself, because she was out the door in about five seconds.

Sora just collapsed onto his bed. _"It's o.k.,"_ he thought. _"Kairi's just my friend. I've lost a bunch of friends lately. I'm just afraid that I'm going to lose her. That's all..."_

**In Kairi's room...**

Kairi slammed the door shut behind her and fell onto her bed. _"He kissed me."_

Kairi couldn't think right now. She didn't want to.

Oh, God... _kissing_.

It was incredible. Sora must use some sort of addictive lip-blam, because Kairi wanted more.

But her brain told her she didn't. _"Sora's my friend,"_ Kairi thought. _"He's not my _boy-friend_..."_

Kairi felt like her brain was going to split in two. Part of her was saying to do the right thing and keep things at the 'friend' level.

The other part was also saying to do the right thing, but it's version of the right thing was to walk right back into Sora's room and make out.

Kairi could hardly hear either of them. She was replaying the kiss over and over in her mind's eye, slowly re-enjoying every second of it.

Kairi was exhausted. She hadn't exactly gotten much rest while she was knocked out._ "I'll... I'll just get some sleep under by belt,"_ she thought as she rested her head onto her pillow without changing out of her sweaty clothes. _"That'll clear my head..."_

She was asleep in seconds.

**Back in Traverse Town...**

"You know, finding a stupid freakn' tracking device shouldn't be this difficult!!"

Riku had practically run his hand along every square inch of the outside of the ship, and had even searched inside the ship, even though the computer clearly stated that the tracking device was on the outside.

Riku was in the cockpit, scanning once again to make sure there weren't any mistakes.

Once again, he got the same results.

"WHAT IS WITH THIS THING?!?" Riku slammed his fists on the dash board. Hard.

_Flump. Flump. Flump. Flump. _

"What?" Riku looked up. He had started the windshield-wiper. "Why do we need a windshield-wiper in space?"

Wait... was there something on...?

Of course. It just had to be the last place he looked.

Riku ran out of the ship and jumped up onto the top of his craft. He snatched the tracking device off of the windshield-wiper and hurled it at the ground. It blew up.

Almost as if on cue, the sky filled with Star Destroyers.

"You have got to be kidding me!!!" Riku screamed up at the ships. "Can't I get one little break?!?"

At that exact moment, the doors to the Third District and the Second District were blown open. And out of them charged Heartless.

_Lots_ of Heartless.

"I've gotta learn to stop jinxing myself."

Riku leapt down from the top of his ship and ran right up the loading ramp, which closed automatically behind him.

Riku literally jumped up the ladder into the cockpit. The grabbed the controls just as TIE Fighters started approaching.

Riku yanked on the joystick and lifted the ship off the ground. He flipped the ship over and did a barrel roll, firing at the Impearl crafts. Riku had to admit that they were pretty good; only twelve of them fried. The others were wise enough to pull up and swoop low over the town, blasting at the hoards of Heartless that had appeared.

Riku few dangerously close to one of the Star Destroyers, which started firing its heavy cannons at the Mabrik. He managed to keep moving fast enough that he wasn't hit. He flew over what he assumed was the bridge, because it was protruding from the main ship. Riku fired a few shots, but they only bounced off of a shield.

Riku swerved to avoid a swarm of TIE Fighters as he started charging the warp drive. It would take only forty seconds.

Riku's computers started warning him of the presence of TIE Fighters closing on his left. Riku hit the brakes and let the ships shoot in front of him. He fired a few shots at them and did a nose dive towards another Star Destroyer.

Thirty seconds.

Riku spun the ship rapidly as cannon fire blazed in the space around him. He converted power away from his guns and to his shields. He still wasn't going to hold out long.

Twenty-five seconds.

Riku pulled up sharply and hoped that none of the blasts would hit him. He did a half loop and a barrel roll to try and allude the Star Destroyer's fire. No such luck.

Fifteen seconds.

Suddenly a blast came far too close to Riku's ship. The explosion flung the Mabrik through space, and the sudden movement threw Riku from the controls.

Ten seconds.

The Mabrik tumbled through space and took a hit from a TIE Fighter. Shields were down to ten percent. Now a cannon shot that landed ten meters away would destroy the ship. The Mabrik continued to flip and roll through space wildly, and Riku was flung helplessly from the floor, to the wall, to the ceiling, to the windshield...

Five.

The ship stopped spinning a bit as ten TIE Fighters swooped in for the kill.

Four.

The ship came to a halt, and Riku fell... to land upright on the ceiling.

Three.

The TIE Fighters were in firing range.

Two.

Riku realized where he hand landed and prepared to jump. He would have to try and hit the exact button. He only had one chance...

One.

Riku jumped. He grabbed the underside of the dashboard and kicked the warp drive button just as the TIE Fighters fired.

But it was just too late; the Mabrik was out of there.

Destination: Radiant Garden.

**Back in Kairi's room on the Shera...**

Kairi sat up in her bed and looked at the clock. She had only slept for three hours.

Then she remembered what had happened before she had gone to sleep.

What was going on?

She had dreamed about the kiss over and over again. But a few of times her brain had tweaked it so that she and Sora committed their undying love to each other, or decided that saving the worlds wasn't important, and that they should just live alone, all by themselves, for the rest of their lives. Little things along those lines.

Kairi swung her legs off the side of the bed and onto the floor. Sighing, she walked over to her wardrobe.

"Did something happen between you and Sora?"

Oh yeah... talking wardrobe.

"Yeah... but it's nothing," Kairi said. She tried to open the wardrobe, but it was shut tight.

"I want to hear the truth," the wardrobe said.

Kairi sighed. "He... well, I suppose we both..." Kairi couldn't bring herself to say it. "We kissed."

Wow. It had been easier than she thought. At least the universe hadn't exploded or anything.

"Do you love him?"

Kairi didn't answer.

"I see," the wardrobe started. "He's your friend, so your afraid that if you actually get together and it doesn't work out, it would reck your friendship too."

"I don't know..." Kairi said, plopping back down onto her bed. "I don't really know if I love him at all. Well, not like that."

"You've been friends for a long time, so the shadows of your friendship are covering up your feelings now."

"I just don't want to talk about it right now," Kairi said angrily. "Now let me change."

The wardrobe sighed in defeat, and swung open to let Kairi get in.

Kairi snatched her pink and white dress out of the wardrobe from where she had changed on Disney Castle. She walked into the bathroom, took a long, long shower, and then departed in search of something to eat.

And about five minutes after she left, Jacob walked in.

"What do you make of it?" he asked.

"They love each other, that's for sure," the wardrobe said.

"What makes you certain?"

"She was moaning in her sleep, saying his name over and over again," the wardrobe replied.

"Huh. That must have been when Cid asked me to help fix a leak in his bathroom." Jacob put a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "Anyway, as a Princess of Heart, Kairi's conscience might have a hard time with this..."

"What do you mean?"

"Princesses of Heart aren't supposed to _want_. They care and help. But they aren't selfish. If Kairi really wants Sora, but the two keep pushing each other away..."

"She'll only want Sora more," the wardrobe finished. "What happens then?"

"I haven't got a clue," Jacob answered. "If only we could have gotten into Xehanort's account. He probably has files on this kind of stuff."

"Information on love?"

"The Princesses, you nincompoop."

"Right," the wardrobe said, flushing. "Sorry."

Jacob was silent for a few moments. "My guess is that she would lose her Princess of Heart status, and would become a normal human with Darkness in her Heart. Then someone else would become a Princess of Heart."

"What kind of person?"

"I don't know. We really need those files."

Silence again.

"What should we do in the mean time?" the wardrobe asked.

Jacob sighed. "As much as I hate to say it... we have to play cupid. We've gotta get them together before it's too late."

"But if they discover us..."

"I know," Jacob replied. "If they find out, they'll just be more and more embarrassed. And that isn't going to help them at all."

Suddenly they heard Kairi's voice in the hall.

"I'll bet my tooth brush is magically in my bathroom or something..." they heard her say.

"Conceal me!" Jacob said in an urgent whisper. The wardrobe opened and Jacob jumped inside. The wardrobe closed herself back up just as Kairi walked in.

"You wouldn't happen to come with a dental kit would you?" Kairi asked.

"Er... not that I can think of," the wardrobe replied with a weak smile.

"Whatever," Kairi said, turning for the door. "I'll ask if Merlin can poof something up for me..."

As soon as she had walked out, Jacob opened the wardrobe and stepped out. "That was way too close," he said.

"You better get out of here before she comes back," the wardrobe said.

Jacob nodded and ran out the door just as Cid's voice was heard throughout the ship. "Attention everyone," Cid said. "We will be arriving at Traverse Town in just about ten minutes. So if yer' gonna be getting off to go look for Riku, you better get the lead out."

**Above Traverse Town...**

"Yes sir, the world is completely abandoned," Captain Sienex reported.

"Well then, you and your squad are to depart to assist Captain Piett on Radiant Garden," a commander said."The rest of the squad is removing its self to Disney Castle."

"Understood, sir," Sienex said with a quick salute before walking off the bridge.

**About ten minutes later...**

All the Star Destroyers warped away to Disney Castle, while a large troop carrier shot off for Radiant Garden.

Seconds after the Imperials had cleared out, the Shera appeared.

"Alright then, who's going down?" Cid asked. Everyone was gathered on the bridge (besides Aerith of course), admiring the view of Traverse Town through the glass floor.

"I'm going," Sora said.

Kairi was reluctantly glanced at Sora, but added, "I'm going too!"

"If she goes, I go," Jacob said. Kairi stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'll go down with em'," Goofy said, branching his shield. He looked to Donald.

"Sorry, pal," Donald quacked. "But I'm gonna help Merlin figure out what's wrong with Aerith."

"I'm going down too," Max said, drawing his long-sword.

Before Goofy could object, Cid said, "O.k. then, step right up to this here teleporter, and I'll send ya down."

Sora and Max ran right into the small space which Cid had referenced, and they disappeared. Kairi, Goofy, and Jacob followed shortly.

**Above Raideant Garden...**

Riku's ship dropped out of warp drive right in the middle of the Impereal blockaid. Yeah. Great.

Anyway, Riku was extreamly ticked off about this, but didn't have much of a choice but to stay focused. He drove the Mabrik down low over the world's outer shell before the Star Destroyers noticed him and started fireing. Riku looked out the window at the town to see it was swarming with Stormtroopers.

"O.k., I know this one isn't my fault," Riku muttered as he noticed Disney Castle wedged into the Great Maw. He turned the ship and landed on the edge of the large rift. Hopefully he could find a way to get inside.

Riku got out of the ship and walked to the drop off, slowly scaning the area. There wern't any Impereals around. From what he could see, anyway.

"Well, we've gotta try, Yuffie. I mean, if we get some people out of the camps, we might have a chance of repelling the Imperials."

"No, we're on strict orders from King Mickey. This is a reconasanse mission only... wait... who's that?"

Riku turned around. The voices were coming from behind a large boulder. He quickly summoned _Way to Dawn_ into his hand. "Who's there?"

Riku watched as Yuffie slowly emerged. "Riku? What are you doing here?"

"I'd ask you the same question," Riku started, "But I'm much more interested in why the _Imperials_ are here."

"I asked you first." Yuffie said as she put her hands on her hips and smirked.

"Wait, this is Riku?" another voice asked. It belonged to what looked like an extremely fat dog, who was also coming out from behind the rock.

"Yeah P.J., this is Riku," Yuffie answered, gesturing towards Riku.

"O.k., you look familiar," Riku said, scratching his head.

"That'll be because Pete's my dad," the dog, P.J., replied.

"Pete as in the Pete that was banished and started working for Maleficent?" Riku asked quickly, the hand holding his Keyblade twitching a bit.

"Give the guy some slack, he didn't pick his dad," Yuffie said, sliding over to Riku and throwing an arm over his shoulders. "So what are you doing here, big boy?"

Riku looked a Yuffie as if she had three heads before shrugging her arm off and taking a step away. A big step. "I'm here to get Sora. Where is he?"

"Off world," P.J. answered. "Along with Kairi, Leon, Aerith, Cid, Merlin, Tifa, and Jacob."

"I'm not familiar with a 'Jacob' or a 'Tifa'," Riku said as his weapon vanished.

"Jacob is Cid's assistant, but I personally think that he could aspire to a whole lot more," Yuffie started, once again taking a step towards Riku. "He's a great fighter."

"Do tell," Riku said, eyeing Yuffie suspiciously.

"Tifa's a martial artist," P.J. added. "She can break down walls with her bare hands. Or at least that's what Yuffie tells me."

"And we can always believe what Yuffie tells us," Riku said sarcastically, almost jumping away from Yuffie and towards P.J.. P.J. laughed a bit, both at Riku's joke and at Yuffie's antics.

"Where did they fly to?" Riku asked.

"They went to find you. They think you're at Traverse Town," Yuffie answered.

"That's were I _was_. As in, past tense."

"Really? Cus' I'm the one who thought you were there in the first place!" Yuffie said happily, pumping her fist in the air.

"Well great for you. I really need to get back to Sora-"

Suddenly TIE Bombers were streaking towards them. They must have noticed Riku's ship.

"No time to reach the Castle!" Riku yelled. "Get on board!!"

Riku charged towards the Mabrik with Yuffie and P.J. in tow. They ran up the ramp, which shut behind them, and climbed up the ladder out of the living quarters and into the cockpit.

Riku jumped into the pilot's seat. "You guys operate the guns! I'll fly!"

Yuffie and P.J. both sat down at computer terminals and started up the weapons as Riku lifted the ship off the ground.

"What now?" Yuffie asked as TIE Bombers started firing.

"You guys are coming with me!" Riku replied quickly. "I'll try and contact Disney Castle!"

Riku tapped a button as the Mabrik swerved and shot up into the sky, TIE Fighters and Bombers on their tail. A few seconds later, Chip's voice was heard.

"What? Who is this?" he asked.

"Chip, this is Riku," Riku answered. "I need you to get King Mickey for me!"

"Negative! The King is extremely busy! I can give him a message though!"

"Tell him that I have Yuffie and P.J. with me," Riku started. "I'm going to join Sora, and I'll come back for you guys!"

"I'll get him your message right away!" Chip said. And with that, the transmission ended.

"Great, they don't even know we're in trouble!" P.J. yelled.

"Just focus! I'll get us out of this!" Riku said as the ship left the atmosphere. "Just hang tight!" Riku reached for the warp drive charge up button, but suddenly the ship rocked violently.

"That can't be good. That wasn't good, was it?" Yuffie looked to Riku, who groaned.

"No Yuffie, it wasn't good."

"It wasn't? Yay! I was right again!"

"Please shut up," Riku managed to keep a calm voice, but his face was red. He pressed a button on the control panel. A damage assessment popped up. It read:

Warp Drive inactive.

Engines down to 60%.

Riku said something less than decent under his breath. "Alright guys," he yelled over the sudden din of laser cannons firing. "Our warp drive is down. Any bright ideas?"

"There!!" Yuffie yelled. She pointed out of the ship and to...

A worm hole.

"Yes!! We're saved!!" P.J. exclaimed happily.

"Not yet! Look!" Riku pointed to the worm hole as well. "It's closing!!"

"Then hit the gas, man!!" Yuffie cried as the ship shook from a nearby explosion.

Riku didn't need telling twice. He flew the ship towards the worm hole, praying they would reach it in time.

**In the Disney Castle control room, a few minutes ago...**

The Imperial Spy Bot turned off the Chip recording and cut transmission with Riku. Good thing Chip and Dale had been on coffee break.

Yeah. Like they need coffee.

**Back in space...**

Riku knew they had seconds.

"Come on... come on..."

The worm hole was just big enough to accommodate them.

Yuffie bit down on her nails.

P.J. felt like he was going to wet himself.

"Come on... come on..."

The worm hole closed up a bit more. If they didn't reach it soon, they wouldn't be able to get through.

"Come on... come on..."

Yuffie bit her finger on accident.

P.J. _did_ wet himself.

"Come on... come on..."

_Zap._

"We made it!!!!" P.J. yelled, jumping out of his seat and doing and doing a happy dance. The Mabrik was in the worm hole!

"We're not safe yet." Riku gritted his teeth. "This worm hole is too small for us to fit. If we don't get where we're going soon, we'll get ripped apart and crushed."

Yuffie stood up. "So? How long do we have?"

"Uh..." Riku quickly scanned a computer readout. "... There'll be oxygen leaks in ten minutes. Then the ship will get compressed a bit. We'll probably black out. After five minutes of that, the ship will explode. So we have... er... fifteen minutes to live? Ten minutes awake."

"Well, it's been a good life," P.J. said. "The whole my-dad-being-evil-thing was bad, but I really had an o.k. life."

"Shut up," Yuffie moaned.

"You should both shut up," Riku growled. "We need to conserve our oxygen supply."

No one said anything.

They didn't have to.

If the worm hole didn't drop them off somewhere soon, they were going to die.

There wasn't anything to talk about.

**Wow. **

**RECAP!!: Riku has Yuffie and P.J. with him, and the Castle doesn't even know because an Imperial Spy Bot intercepted the transmission!**

**Not to mention Sora and Kairi kissed, but they are being total morons and acting like they didn't.**

**Yeah. I bet a bunch of you thought this story was gonna turn into a 24/7 Sora x Kairi thing. WRONG!! Primary reason I did the kiss scene at all was to show I wasn't going off on a Sora x Riku story. I've seen plenty of those and let me say this: If you wrote one you are an extremely gay chick. **

**However, as you may have guessed from Jacob's conversation with the wardrobe, their kiss is going to lead to some major plot points. You'll see what I mean in a bit.**

**Oh, but if you noticed Yuffie's actions towards Riku... I haven't decided if I want to go anywhere with that yet. I'll think about it.**

**I don't own P.J., who you may remember as Max's chum from 'Goof Troop' and 'A Goofy Movie'.**


	7. Of Jungles and Deserts

**Okay!! We start two new loops this time around! ALL RIGHT!!!! Please enjoy!!**

**Chapter 7: Of Jungles and Deserts**

**On the Shera...**

Suddenly Sora, Kairi, Goofy, Max, and Jacob collapsed out of the teleporter.

"Did you guys find Riku?" Leon asked as Jacob got off of Max, who got off of Goofy, who got off of Kairi, who got off of Sora. Sora didn't get up.

"Hey Sora, how do you feel?" Jacob asked.

"O.k., I suppose," Sora replied. "Maybe just a little _flat_."

"Did you find Riku?" Leon asked again, helping Sora to his feet.

"Nope. He wasn't down there," Goofy replied. "We looked everywhere! Even in the sewers and Merlin's old house."

"No where to be seen," Jacob said, rubbing his butt. "Tons of Heartless though."

"I didn't get knocked out this time, so I'm happy," Kairi put in sarcastically.

"Where do you think he went then?" Cid asked.

"I don't know," Sora replied. "But I do know one thing." He held up a post card. "I used this thing to open a new gate. We can go to another world now!"

"O.k., that's fairly big news," Cid said, putting a cigar into his mouth and lighting it.

"I wanna check it out," Sora said. "You never know what your going to find."

"Who knows, Riku might have known about it and gone there by a different route," Kairi added.

"Doubtful," Leon said. "He most likely found the tracking device and headed for Radiant Garden."

"I'll pull up a video chat with Disney Castle," Cid said, taping a few buttons. "This here could take a minute. Just hang tight."

"I'm gonna check in on Aeirth. I still haven't seen her," Sora said. Kairi and Goofy nodded.

"Alright, go ahead, it'll be ready when you get back," Cid muttered in reply, waving them off as he continued to tap buttons vigorously.

**In the Medical Lab...**

Merlin and Donald were trying every healing spell in the book (and some that weren't in the book), praying that something would help Aeirth. But nothing was working.

"What are we going to do?" Donald quacked, looking at the sleeping Aeirth. She was still sedated.

"I haven't the slightest idea," Merlin answered. He pointed to the bandages wrapped around Aeirth's face. "But whatever those black blobs on her skin are, they seem to be draining her life force."

"How long do you think she has?" Donald asked.

"I'd rather not think about that at the moment," Merlin replied, straitening his glasses. "All I know is that we can't allow her to expunge anymore of her energy. It's far too dangerous for her."

The doors opened and Sora, Kairi, and Goofy walked in.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" Sora asked.

"We haven't a clue," Merlin said, gesturing to the bandages. "It's unlike anything I've ever seen before. Just a bit disturbing, actually..."

"What do you mean?" Kairi walked over to Aeirth's bed. She hadn't seen her since Traverse Town more than a year ago.

"She seems to have developed a strange decease... some sort of invader has turned parts of her skin black, and those patches are... Well, they seem to be absorbing her life force."

"Her life force?" Goofy asked worriedly.

"That's right Goofy!" Donald said. "We've gotta find a way to heal her before it's too late!"

"How long do you think she has?" Sora asked.

"I can't say for sure," Merlin replied. "But I know for a fact that she will still be with us for at least two months."

Cid's voice sounded over the loud speaker. "I've got the video chat up guys. Get your asses up here and talk!"

**On the Mabrik, still trapped in the worm hole...**

Ten minutes had passed. Riku had been right. P.J. and Yuffie were already out of it, and the artificial gravity had shut down, so they were floating helplessly through the air.

Riku was floating around too, but was still barely managing to stay awake.

They only had five minutes to live.

Riku was not having the best time of his life just floating around, alone with his thoughts. Especially with imminent death hurtling towards him.

He turned his head a little bit so that he could see the control panel. Only enough air for five minutes, and that was leaking out fast. It was more like two minutes.

Suddenly Riku's vision tunneled. His mind was hazy and he was having a hard time thinking about anything. He took an involuntary gulp of air. He tried to hold his breath the best he could. Too bad P.J. and Yuffie couldn't do the same.

Riku looked out the windshield. Nothing but the twisting green and blue colors of the worm hole. No... there was a little black now. Ah well, not like that made much of a difference.

Wait a sec... there was a lot of black. And some tan too.

_"Oh, God,"_ Riku thought. _"Now I'm hallucinating."_

There was no way he was hallucinating... it was all black... a little white here and there... and a big tan blob in the middle.

Wait a second...

Riku flipped over in the air, kicked off the wall and propelled himself to the control panel. He grabbed the joystick and forced the ship to streak towards the tan shaded world.

There was hardly any air left. They had made it out of the worm hole, but they still might not make it to this new world.

Riku heard a moan behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to see that Yuffie was waking up. The noise of the engines must have stirred her.

"Mmmm... where am I?" she murmured.

_"Not good,"_ Riku thought. _"I she talks too much she'll use up extra air."_

"What time is it?"

Riku set the ship for auto pilot and jumped over to her. "Er... it's late... go back to sleep. Now."

"No... I'm not tired... but it's kinda hard to breath... what's going on?"

"Yuffie, sshhhhsh! We're low on air!"

"Fine, then I'll have breakfast in bed..."

Riku was at a loss. He quickly summoned his Keyblade into his hand and whopped Yuffie on the side of her head, knocking her out.

The ship jerked as it entered the atmosphere. Riku, Yuffie, and Max all fell to the ground. Hard.

The doors weren't open though. They needed to land and open the doors.

The Mabrik was flying over what looked like an endless desert. Riku couldn't see any settlements or water sources of any kind. Just great.

Riku ran over to the controls again and switched off the auto pilot. He checked the air meter. It wasn't leaking anymore, but they still only had five minutes. He checked the fuel gauge. Almost empty. He would have to find a settlement and land quickly, or else they would be stranded in the middle of an unforgiving desert.

Riku looked at the ship's radar. There seemed to be something big to the North. He turned the ship slightly to the left and cruised off.

**In the World that Never Was...**

"The device is ready, Maleficent!" Pete cried.

"Perfect!" the witch said as she sat down in a large seat. "Shall we commence the operation?"

"Sure thing, Maleficent," Pete said as he turned to the computer terminal. "Which of our agents do you wanna check up on first?"

"That new one. At the world called India."

"Right then. Let's light this sucker!"

Pete dramatically pressed a large red button in slow motion. The entire Castle vibrated. Then in shook. Then it jerked and actually started floating away from the world.

"Pete, you've finally invented something that works," Maleficent said with a smile.

"It's what I do. Er... sometimes."

The Castle that Never was activated it's charge-less warp drive and blasted out of the system.

**At Disney Castle...**

King Mickey, Queen Minnie, Lady Daisy, Pluto, Chip and Dale were all gathered in front of a large TV, waiting for Cid to connect.

The screen flickered to life. "Hey ya'll," Cid said. "We've got us some good news and some bad news."

"Good news first Cid," Mickey said.

"O.k., the good news is that Sora's opened the gate to a new world."

"How is that good?" Mickey asked. "That'll only let the Imperials continue their conquest."

"Yeah, but if we can find the world where the Imperials are coming from, we could try and stop them," Sora jumped in. "Or we could just find some people that hate the Imperials as much as we do."

"That shouldn't be too hard," Kairi jumped in as well.

"Anyone else who wants to join in?" Cid asked sarcastically, looking around.

"Sure thing, fellers!" Goofy literally charged in and knocked the other three down before collapsing on top of them.

Jacob entered the shot. "The bad news is that Riku wasn't at Traverse Town. He probably flew to Radiant Garden to met up with Sora and you guys."

"Well, we haven't seen him," Chip said. "He must have gone somewhere else!"

"Either way, keep an eye out," Jacob said. He stopped and quickly looked down at the others, who were struggling to get up. "Er... I'm going to stop the video chat now!" he said a bit too loudly. He discretely gave the Disney Castle-ers a wink. "I'm turning it off!" He reached for a button, but apparently didn't press it, because the transmission continued. At least, one way.

After a few minutes, everyone was off the camera... except Jacob. He quickly turned the transmission back on so that he could see what was happening on the other side. "King Mickey? I need to talk to you alone."

The others filed out, leaving only Jacob on one end and Mickey on the other.

"What is it Jacob?" Mickey asked.

"I've got some bad news of my own." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture; the picture of Sora and Kairi kissing.

Mickey's eyes widened. Then he just arched an eyebrow. "Wait... how is this bad? I mean, at least their love is real, not all this fake teen stuff that's happening these days."

"That's exactly what I mean. Even after they kissed the are still complete morons!" Jacob yelled. "They're still denying their love for each other!"

"Let me guess. You think as a Princess of Heart, Kairi might not be able to handle the temptation?"

"Exactly," Jacob replied. "However, I've already got a plan. I'll keep you posted. Shera out."

**Back on the Mabrik...**

Yes! A town! And a huge one by the looks of it! Riku landed on the outskirts so as not to attract attention: you never know who you're dealing with.

The ship touched down on the sandy terrain, and Riku quickly jumped down the ladder, darted through the quarters, and pressed the button to open the door. An incredibly hot gust of wind rushed in, along with a little sand. Riku let out a sigh of relief. They weren't dead yet.

_Yet_ being the apt word.

**On the bridge of the Shera...**

Everyone gathered on the bridge to look at the new world. It looked like a vast jungle with few settlements and a ruined temple.

"Who's going down?" Cid asked.

Sora and Kairi raised their hands. Jacob was about to when Kairi stopped him. "Am I allowed to give you a vacation?"

Jacob frowned. "Yes. But only one every two months! And a max of one week!"

"Whatever. You are temporarily relived of duty."

"I'm going down too," Max said. He quickly looked to Goofy. "Dad, I'm with them... I'll be fine."

Goofy sighed. "O.k., but you be safe."

Max nodded and joined Sora and Kairi.

"Hold on guys!" Donald said. "Scanners indicate that there's mostly animals down there, so you're gonna need to transform!"

"We can do that?!?" Kairi asked.

"Er... yeah."

"SWEET!!!"

"Calm down Kairi, it's not a fun as it sounds," Sora said. "Don't worry Donald, I've watched you do it enough times that I think I can handle it."

Sora, Kairi, and Max stepped into the teleporter. "O.k. guys, you're gonna feel a bit of a burning sensation for a few seconds..."

Sora muttered the spell under his breath just a a blue light consumed them and they disappeared.

**Down of the surface...**

Sora and his group appeared in a large clearing and looked down at themselves. Max was a black wolf with green fringes on his ears and his neck. Kairi was a jaguar with a dark red, silky coat. Sora was a wolf like Max, but had dark brown fur with carmel streaks near his ears.

"So, what do we do now?" Kairi asked as she got used to her new form by running around the clearing.

"Look for a way to open a gate, I guess…"

"Who are you?" The trio whirled around to see a Black Panther approaching, who sounded and looked rather old. "What rights do you have to hunt in these parts of the jungle?" he asked.

"Sorry, are we not supposed to be here?" Kairi asked.

"No, it's just that we don't usually get newcomers in the hunting grounds of the wolfs," the panther said.

"You aren't a wolf," Sora said.

"I am, however, a member of their council, and they allow me to come and go as I please. Now, I hope you don't mind my asking again, but who are you?"

"Sora!" "I'm Kairi!" "My name is Max. Ignore them, they're too perky for their own good."

Sora and Kairi looked at Max angrily. The older panther walked over and circled Max a few times.

"Well then... Sora, Max, and Kairi, my name is Bagheera. I am to assume that you are not from this part of the jungle?"

"That would be correct," Sora said quickly.

"We're here... well, we just kinda float from place to place and help people out," Max said. "You wouldn't happen to have some work for us would you?"

**At the wolf's cave…**

Sora, Kairi, Max and Bagheera walked through the jungle to a location which Bagheera didn't seem to want to tell them about.

"Will someone please tell me where we are going?" Kairi asked, a little annoyed. After walking for a half an hour on four legs she understood why Sora didn't enjoy it.

"Here we are," Bagheera announced. Bagheera and walked up to a clump of bushes. Everyone stuck their heads through and saw a small cave on the other side. In it there was a group of wolfs, but to Sora, Max, and Kairi's shock, there was also a brown skinned little boy dressed only in red linen cloth that covered his undesirables laying with them.

"A human?" Sora asked.

"Yes… his name is Mowgli, the man cub." Bagheera said. "I found him as an infant, and brought him here. He has been living with them as a wolf for almost nine years now."

"So he's lived with animals since he could remember?" Kairi asked.

"Precisely. But you see, Mowgli is living under very special circumstances."

"What kind of... circumstances?" Max asked.

"Shere Khan is back."

"What?" was the responce from all the off worlders.

"Well, you three," Bagheera started. "Mowgli has been protected by the pack, or his family and the other wolfs in this area, and has never had to hunt or met any real danger in the jungle. As such, he would walk out into the jungle with complete confidence that no harm would come to him, mainly because he doesn't know that any danger exists. And recently, Shere Khan, a man eating and hating tiger, has returned to these jungles, and he will most likely try to kill Mowgli. This will put him and those around him in danger. Tonight, the wolfs are meeting on Council Rock to decide what to do."

**That night, at Council Rock…**

Sora, Max, and Kairi, who were not members of the Council, waited at the bottom of the Rock for the meeting to end. After about thirty minutes, Bagheera and many wolfs came down and walked off in deferent directions. Our heroes followed Bagheera in the direction of the wolf's cave.

"…So?" Sora asked finally.

"I have offered to escort Mowgli to a man village. He will be safer there," Bagheera explained.

"Can we tag along?" Kairi was thinking that they would have an excuse to look for something to open a new gate.

"I don't see why not," Bagheera answered.

"Well then, I think we'll come," Sora said.

"Oh, and because of his seclusion, Mowgil may be reluctant to live away from the jungle. Plus, he will not understand the position that he is in, and as such, he will probably be even more reluctant to come along. We must not tell him of our destination until we are far away from here," Bagheera said. "I have taken many walks with him before, so he should be more than willing to come at first."

**That night, after walking for an hour or so…**

Mowgli had since gotten used to Bagheera's strange friends, and had taken to riding on Bagheera's back. It was getting to midnight, and Mowgli started yawning.

"Bag… Bagheera? I'm getting kind of sleepy…" Mowgli's eyelids bobbed up and down as his head nodded. "Shouldn't we start back soon?"

Bagheera sighed. "Mowgli… this time, we're not going back," he said reluctantly "I'm taking you to a man village."

Mowgli suddenly seemed much more awake. "But why?" he asked.

"Because Shere Khan has returned to this part of the jungle," Bagheera said.

"And he is going to try to kill you," Sora said bluntly.

"Why?" Mowgli asked innocently. Despite his age, he seemed very naïve to our three heroes.

"Because he fears man's gun and man's fire," Bagheera explained. "He wants to stop you from growing up to be a hunter."

"Aw, I'll just explain to him that I'm not like that!" Mowgli said, smiling as though the whole thing had been a joke, and he had just heard the punch line.

Bagheera chuckled. "You don't explain _anything_ to Shere Khan."

The group walked into a huge clearing. Its only feature was a large tree sitting in the middle. "Come on, man cub," Bagheera said as Mowgli slid off his back. "We can talk more in the morning." They all walked up to the tree, and Mowgli started to climb up (with a bit of help from Bagheera). After a few minutes, Bagheera and Mowgli were up on a particularly wide and sturdy branch. Sora, Max, being wolfs, stayed on the ground. Kairi opted to stay with them. Everyone was asleep quickly.

Everyone, that is, except Mowgli. He sat up against the trunk, fiddling with a small branch as he thought of all the time that he had spent in the jungle. He didn't what to leave his home, and he didn't want to leave his family. He sighed and started thinking about if he would be able to find his way home if he were to run away. So wrapped up in his own thoughts was he, that he didn't notice a pair of yellow eyes looking down at him.

A snake slowly lowered out of the leaves of the tree and hovered over Mowgli. "Sssay, now, what have we here?" the snake asked. He chuckled and smacked his lips. "It's a man cub. A delicioussss man cub."

"Oh, go away and leave me alone…" Mowgli said, shoving the snake away without any realization of what the snake viewed him as: a snack.

"That's just what I should do, man cub, but I can't…" Bagheera said sleepily. He clearly thought Mowgli was speaking to him. "Just… just go to sleep man cub…"

The snake smiled and nodded happily. "Yesss, man cub," the snake said with a speech impediment. He swung his head over to the sulking Mowgli. The man cub was about to reach up to stop the snake again when suddenly, something happened.

The pupils of the snake's eyes disappeared into nothingness, and in their place burst forth a blue ring of color, then yellow, then green, the blue, then yellow...

Mowgli glanced at the swirling colors in the eyes. Green, like the treetops of his jungle home... blue, like the running waterfalls and rivers... yellow, the fruits that he had eaten all his life...

The snake smiled. He hadn't used his hypnotic abilities in a while, and was a bit rusty. But he knew it would only take seconds for the man cub to fall in. After all, he already seemed interested in what he was seeing.

Mowgli forgot he was looking at the snake's eyes. The colors were swirling so fast, when blue came through, his pupils quickly changing size to follow the color as it vanished, then remembering that yellow was his favorite, and trying to focus on that one... then green... then blue... then yellow...

Mowgli went slack jawed and open eyed at the strange phenomenon. The colors of the snake's eyes reflected off of Mowgli's.

The snake chuckled at the sight of Mowgli's sleepy bobbing head and his rapidly changing pupils. "Yesss, man cub," the snake started, playing on the panther's words. _"Pleasssse, go to sleep... Pleassse, go to sleep..." _he sang. The snake swung his head from side to side as he sang. First side to side, then up and down. Side to side, up and down.

Mowgli helplessly followed along, the snake's eyes now being the only light in a world of darkness. His vision for all things was lost except the colors. He mustn't lose sight of them.

The devious snake's strategy was working. Mowgli was trying desperately to follow him, and was dragging his already tired body along with him for the ride. This would surely exhaust him, leaving his mind even more open to influence.

Mowgli was slowly giving up; the boy's arms, once crossed, hung at his side. His legs had also dropped, now dangling over the edge of the brach. His jaw hung slack, actually drooling a bit. His eyes were wide open, desperate to receive more of the colors. His eyes had stopped trying to focus: his pupils had shrunk to the size of pin-pricks as the colors engulfed the world.

_"Sleep, little man cub.... rest in peaccce..."_

Mowgli didn't have any self control any more; his body was meaninglessly sitting there. He actually wet himself. No matter. All that mattered was the colors of the jungle that had for so long been his home...

The snake, still singing his song, made his tail come around the tree to Mowgli. It approached the boy and started to wrap around his torso, starting at the waist.

Mowgli loved the euphoric feeling. The swirling colors of the jungle, each bringing back loved memories, the strange lullaby that seemed to come from somewhere near them, and the warm blanket that he felt being wrapped around his body, gently caressing his bare skin...

The snake continued to wave his head franticly around, Mowgli following as the tail passed his elbows. His mind, filled only with thoughts of the jungle, received a lone new message: Sleep, little man cub... rest in peace...

Mowgli nodded subconsciously as his eyes started to droop...

_"Wait!!"_ a voice from the deep dark corners of Mowgli's brain cried. _"This isn't real!"_

The man cub's eyes snapped back open. The snake was thoughtful. This was the most resistance he had seen any creature ever put up against his spell. But it was no good... look, the boy's eyes were drooping again.

_"No.... got to..... wake up......."_

The boy's eyes jolted open.

_"Sleep....."_ the snake sang, still smiling. _"Sleep..."_

Mowgli let out yawn as his eyes drooped again, this time actually closing for a moment before opening as nothing more than slits.

The snake smiled and stopped producing colors. Mowgli was so used to seeing the pattern that now it ran freely in his own eyes, with no assistance required from the snake.

The blanket was at his shoulders. Mowgli was having a hard time even thinking about the colors now. He felt so warm and fuzzy all over, and the voice from everywhere had told him to go to sleep, so it must be alright to sleep...

Wait... the jungle and the voice and the blanket weren't all there was... there was something else...

"Ba... gherra..." Mowgli managed to get out.

The snake quickly accelerated his tail's movement's to the man cub's neck. He gave a tight squeeze around it.

Mowgli gulped deeply as he felt the blanket jerk around his neck, but it didn't matter. His eyes shot open, and the snake flashed his colors once again, giving Mowgli the full brunt of the hypnotic treatment. All thoughts of his guardian, his family, the snake, and even the colors disappeared as Mowgli entered a complete and total trance.

The snake chuckled to himself and stopped his flashing. There was no need for it now. Mowgli was so deep under is control that a simple word command would have made him jump off the ends of the earth. Mowgli suddenly smiled obliviously at the sense of bliss that surrounded him, at the warm blanket that secured him, and at the fact that he would finally be able to get some sleep...

Bagheera had luckily heard his name being muttered by the man cub.

"N-now, its no use arguing… we can talk more in the morning…" Bagheera said sleepily.

The snake chuckled again as the lifted the man cub into the air. Mowgli was grinning stupidly, his eyes open and the colors still bouncing about in his vision. "He won't be here in the morning," the snake chuckled.

"Wha… of course he will be Kaa… KAA!!" the panther jumped up as he said the name, completely awake. "HOLD IT KAA!!"

Sora, Max, and Kairi woke up. They couldn't hear the words of the conversation up in the tree, but they did hear a slap, a bump, and then, a thud. They looked to the right of the tree and saw Kaa fall out and land in a heap on the ground.

"OHH! My sssinus…" he started to slither off, until his tail got caught between two trees.

"Look Bagheera! He's got a knot in his tail!" Mowgli laughed, completely oblivious the danger he had been in. The snake broke the trees with a mighty tug, and slithered off into the jungle.

**I'll bet some of you Final Fantasy VII fans know what Aeirth's disease is. NO SPOILERS FOR THE PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW, THOUGH!!**

**Clearly, the place where Sora, Kairi and Max are is India, and they are experiencing the last film overseen by Walt Disney himself: The Jungle Book. I don't own the Jungle Book (film or actual book), nor do I own Mowgli, Bagheera, or Kaa. Shere Khan was mentioned, so I'll say I don't own him either.**

**Hint on the place where Riku, Yuffie and P.J. crashed: Star Wars.**

**Oh, and many thanks to NinjaSheik for being my first reviewer!**


	8. Blazing Hot and Playing it Cool

**Not a lot of action this time around, but definitely sets the scene for some. **

**Chapter 8: Blazing Hot and Playing it Cool**

**Back with the crew on the Mabrik...**

Riku and Yuffie had started out for the town. P.J. had stayed behind to watch the ship. After a thirty minute walk through blisteringly hot conditions (and some nagging from Yuffie, which was almost as bad), they reached the town. It was swarming with humans like them, but also strange aliens and robots of the kind they only could have imagined in their wildest dreams.

"This looks great," Yuffie said as she watched a somewhat small alien get beaten up by two bigger aliens. "Just a hive of scum and villainy."

"But also a haven for those who don't what to be found..." Riku muttered.

"You mean like us?"

Riku nodded. "Well have to find a place to get food, but also a shop with a gummi warp drive." He pointed to a small hut with a sign that read 'Watto's Junk Shop'. "Let's try a smaller dealership first."

Riku and Yuffie walked into the shop. It was rather cramped, and cluttered with all kinds of machinery. There was a blue winged alien, who must have been the dealer, who was dealing with some customers. One of them was a human with a gray poncho and long, dark brown hair. He was accompanied by a young teenaged girl and a strange, tall, out-of-place alien with long ears.

"Oh yes, yes... Nubian, we got lots of that..." the blue alien said. He quickly yelled something in a language Riku and Yuffie didn't understand, and a small blond-haired boy ran in. The two had a quick argument in the strange language before the dealer returned to the dark-haired-man. "So... I'll take you out back and show you what we got, eh?" The man nodded and followed the blue alien out.

The man quickly turned to the tall alien. "Don't touch anything," the man said. He walked out just as the alien stuck a very long tongue out at him.

Yuffie looked at Riku with and expression that clearly said '_This is very strange to me'_.

"You and me both," Riku muttered with a smirk.

"Are you'sa here for parts too?"

Riku and Yuffie looked up from each other. It was the tall alien.

"Yeah. We're here for a gummi warp drive," Riku replied.

"Gummi? I've never heard of it." It was the little blond boy. "I'm pretty sure Watto doesn't carry whatever it is your looking for."

"And you are?" Yuffie asked.

"I'm Anakin," the boy replied. "I work here for Watto. If he carried it, I would know." The boy turned to the other girl. "Are you an angel?"

"A what?" the girl asked.

"An angel. The live on the moons of...Iego, I think. They're supposed to be the most beautiful creatures in the universe."

"You're a funny little boy," the girl said with a smile. "How do you know so much?"

"I listen to all the traders and star pilots that come here," Anakin replied. "I'm a pilot you know. And some day, I'm gonna fly away from this place."

"How long have you been here?" the girl asked.

"Since I was very little. Three, I think. My mom and I were sold to Gondola the Hutt, but she lost us betting on the Pod Races."

"Wait... you're a slave?" the girl asked.

"I'm a person," Anakin answered angrily.

"I'm sorry, this is just a strange place to me."

"Oh, muy-muy..."

All of them glanced at the back of the shop, where the eared alien was messing with a robot. He pressed a button.

Suddenly a strange one-eyed robot jumped to life. And it started kicking the alien. "Ow! Ow! You be stoppen dat!! OW!!!"

"Hey!" Anakin yelled. "Hit the nose!"

"Hmm?" the alien looked at him, then glanced back at the robot. He tapped the eye, and the robot collapsed back onto the ground.

"So what's your name?" Anakin asked the girl, looking away from the alien.

"I'm Padme," the girl replied. The alien knocked over some equipment. "Oh, and that's Jar-Jar."

"Cool," Anakin said before looking to Riku and Yuffie. "Who are you guys?"

"I'm Riku," Riku started. "And this is Yuffie."

"_Ahem_."

"Sorry...." he muttered in a bored tone. "Presenting..." Riku threw his voice sarcastically to sound like an announcer. "The Great..."

Yuffie teleported to the other side of the room.

"Ninja..."

Yuffie appeared next to Jar-Jar, holding a ninja star at his neck.

"Muy-muy."

"Yuffie..." Riku's voice trailed off unenthusiastically as Yuffie appeared next to him again and threw ninja stars, which exploded and rained little sparks over everyone in the room.

Everyone looked at her as if she was the plague.

Riku kept a solid face and shrugged. "I'd say you get used to it, but you don't."

At that moment, Watto and the older man walked in.

"We're leaving," the man said quickly. Jar-Jar knocked over some more robots. "Jar-Jar, now."

The group filed out, and Padme turned back and said, "It was nice to meet you Anakin."

"It was nice to meet you too!" he called after her.

"Stupid outlanders. Think they know everything," Watto mumbled.

"They seemed nice to me," Anakin commented.

Watto growled. "Clean up the racks, then you can go home."

"Yippie!" Anakin jumped up from the counter where he hand been sitting and ran off.

Watto looked to Riku and Yuffie. "You two seem a little young to be here on your own, no?"

"We're looking for a gummi warp drive, but Anakin told us you didn't have any," Riku said, ignoring the comment.

"Gummi? I've never heard of it..." Watto replied. "Let me check my records, just to be sure..."

"You know, it's the only way to travel from world to world," Yuffie said. "How could you not carry any?"

"Eh? Only way to travel?" Watto eyed the two suspiciously. "What world do you come from?"

"Well, maybe we'd explain," Riku started. "We were on our craft and tried to escape from... er... pirates by flying through a worm hole. We have no idea where we are or how we should get home."

"Ah, you must come from another galaxy or something..." Watto muttered. "I'm quite certain no one carries these... gummi? You might as well get work somewhere and buy a ship... heh heh!"

"Right," Riku said. "Thanks anyway."

"Oh, and would you happen to know where we could get some food?" Yuffie asked. "And some appropriate clothing?"

"Eh, there's a dealership right down the street from here. But... you're from another galaxy, so what will you use to pay?"

"Will this do?" Riku asked, pulling out a small ball of munny.

"I think not," Watto said. "If you wanna make it in this town, the I suggest that you get work somewhere. That's all I can say for you."

"Right. Thanks anyway," Yuffie said as she and Riku turned and walked out the door. Little did they know that Anakin had been listening the entire time...

**A little bit later...**

Riku and Yuffie were walking through the streets contemplating what to do when Riku noticed the man with long hair standing in an ally, talking into a strange communicator. He said something, waited, said something else, then stuck the device back into his pocket. Riku looked around. Were his other companions here...?

Apparently so. Padme was standing next to a blue and white trash can shaped robot on the other side of the street, and Jar-Jar was eyeing a strange toasted animal hanging from a wire hungrily.

"So what's the plan, Master Qui-Gon?" Riku and Yuffie heard Padme ask the man.

"We haven't a plan. We're stuck here until we get our hands on some money that these junk dealers will except."

"You and me both," Yuffie said as she walked over and joined the conversation. The man, Qui-Gon, and Padme looked at Yuffie with arched eyebrows. "We're stranded here."

Riku ran over. "Please excuse her," he said quickly, grabbing her shoulders. "She gets rambunctious easily."

Qui-Gon's eyes widened as they fell upon Riku. Or was it just Riku's imagination? They looked normal now.

"No, it's alright," Qui-Gon said. "Padme here has informed me that Watto doesn't carry the parts you need. We both seem to be in a similar situation."

"Yeah, but our currency isn't excepted anywhere," Yuffie said.

"Then we most certainly are birds of a feather," Qui-Gon said, before noticing Jar-Jar seemed to have gotten into a fight with a strange four-armed-no-leged alien.

"Thisa your's?" the alien asked Jar-Jar, holding up the food that Jar-Jar had been looking at.

"Er... mesa?"

The alien punched Jar-Jar.

"Ow ow!! What did mesa do?"

Suddenly Anakin appeared out of nowhere, standing between Jar-Jar and the alien. He started talking in the language which he and Watto had used earlier. The alien said something back before getting up and walking off.

"Mesa be thanken you!" Jar-Jar said as Anakin helped him up.

"Don't mention it," Anakin said. He turned to Qui-Gon and Padme, who had walked over. "Your buddy here was almost turned to orange goo. He picked a fight with a thug. A particularly dangerously thug called Subulba. You may want to keep an eye on him."

"Thank you very much," Qui-Gon said with a smile.

"Orange goo?" Jar-Jar asked. "Thatsa the last thing that mesa want!"

"All the same, the boy is right," Qui-Gon said. "You need to be careful."

Qui-Gon looked to Anakin again, but he had walked over to a stand run by a sun-parched woman. Anakin passed her a few coins and she reached under the counter and retrieved four fruits of the likes Riku had never seen before.

"Me bones are aching, Anne," she said as she handed the last one to him. "A storm must be brewing. You best be getting home."

"Thank you," he said quickly. He ran back over to Qui-Gon and handed him one of the fruits. "Here, you'll like these," he told him.

"Much obliged." Qui-Gon took the food and lifted his poncho and stuck them into a pocket. Both Anakin and Riku noticed a small tube shaped device hanging from Qui-Gon's belt. Anakin's eyes widened as the poncho fell to cover it again.

"There's a sand storm coming. Do you have shelter?" Anakin asked.

"Our ship is on the outskirts," Padme replied.

"Our ship too," Yuffie said.

"The outskirts? You'll never get there in time! Sandstorms are very, _very_ dangers. Come on, I'll take you to my place."

"Wait, I'll try and contact P.J.. Tell him we'll be a while," Riku said as he pulled out a cell phone. He looked at it. "No bars. It figures."

"P.J.'s smart. He'll stay put," Yuffie told him.

"One second, I'll have to contact my ship," Qui-Gon said, pulling out the communication device again.

**Back on the surface of India...**

After a brief encounter with Colonel Hathi and his elephant patrol, the party was underway again. Around noon, they came to a small bridge (a log that had fallen across a stream) and started across. Mowgli didn't cross. "Now, come along, man cub…" Bagheera said.

"Bagheera! Where are we going?" Mowgli asked.

"You're going back to the man village right now," the panther replied.

"I'm not going!" Mowgli said stubbornly as he stood still and solid at the end of the bridge.

"Oh, yes you are!" Bagheera whirled on the man cub as Sora and Kairi waited for the sparks to fly. Max moved to assist Bagheera.

"I'm staying right here!" Mowgli yelled as he rapped himself around a nearby tree.

"You're going if I have to drag you every step of the way!" Bagheera answered as he and Max closed in on Mowgli. The panther and the wolf grabbed the man cub by his pants and started to pull him towards the log. Both got a very clear view of Mowgli's buttocks.

"Let go of that tree!!" Max said through a mouthful of pants.

"You let go of me!" Mowgli's pants had starched so far that Sora and Kairi really couldn't believe that it hadn't ripped right off. Mowgli kicked at the two animals until he had shoved both of them off. They flew into the river as Mowgli pulled himself back up to his tree. Max climbed out of the river onto the shore, where he shook himself dry.

Bagheera came out of the water too, but his head slammed into the bottom of the log. "Oh, that does it," he said angrily. "I've had it man cub! From now on, you're on your own!" he cried as he jumped out of the water. "ALONE!!" he yelled as he stormed off.

"Don't worry about me!" Mowgli replied furiously as he walked off in an entirely new direction. Sora, Riku, and Kairi took off after Bagheera.

"Ah… foolish man cub…" Bagheera muttered when they caught him.

"All the same, I feel kind of sorry for him," Kairi said. "He doesn't have a clue about the position he is in."

**About six minutes after parting from Mowgli…**

A loud roar caught the ears of the four animals. "Oh-no…" Max muttered.

"He's in trouble!" Bagheera cried. "We should have never left him alone!"

Bagheera and Sora's party shot through the jungle, Bagheera leading the way. Soon they reached a small rock overlooking Mowgli and a bear. It appeared that the bear was trying to teach Mowgli how to fight. "Oh-no!" Bagheera cried. "It's Baloo! That crazy jungle bum!"

"You know him?" Kairi asked.

"Know him? His reputation is as big as his waist! The most disrespectful, lazy creature in the jungle!"

Suddenly the bear started singing.

_"Look for the Bare Necessities, the simple Bare Necessities, forget about your worries and your strife. I mean the… Bare Necessities! Old Mother Nature's recipes! That bring the Bare Necessities to life!_ _Wherever I wander, wherever I roam, I couldn't be fonder of my big home. The bees are buzzin' in the tree to make some honey just for me. When you look under the rocks and plants and take a glance at the fancy ants. Then maybe try a few. The Bare Necessities of life will come to you!"_

Bagheera scoffed. "Off all the silly…" Suddenly Baloo jumped up and yanked on Bagheera's tail.

"Come on Baggy, get with the beat!" he said happily before continuing his song. After a few minutes, Mowgli, who was still oblivious to Sora, Riku, Kairi and Bagheera's presence jumped onto Baloo's lap and the two started floating down a river.

"I give up…" Bagheera said as he walked off. "Well, I hope his luck holds out."

Sora and Kairi stared to follow him before Max held them back. "He has enough on his mind. Let's start looking for the gate lock on our own." Sora and Kairi sighed and the three walked off.

**About five minutes later…**

Sora, Max and Kairi walked through the jungle wondering what would become of Mowgli when suddenly a voice rang out. "BAGHEERA!!!"

"That was Baloo!" Kairi said.

"Something happened to Mowgli, I'll bet," Max said. The group ran off as fast as they could in the direction that they came. Suddenly Powerwilds, Bouncywilds and Sniperwilds appeared all around them.

"Heartless!" Sora cried as he summoned his Keyblade into his mouth. Kairi and Max just tried to stay out of his way. Sora charged at the monkey Heartless and…

**At the rocky cliff…**

Bagheera ran up to a cliff and looked around. Suddenly Baloo was in his face. "BAGHEERA!!!" Bagheera thought his eardrums had shattered. "Oh, you herd me," the bear said with a sheepish smile.

Bagheera shoved the bear out of the way and looked wildly around for Mowgli. "Mowgli! Mowgli!!" He cried. He whirled on Baloo and grabbed his face. "Alright, what happened? Where's Mowgli?"

Baloo shoved Bagheera back and started recounting his story, with a few twists to make it more interesting. "They ambushed us! Thousands of em'!" he said. He started swinging his arms around in punching like motions. "I… I jabbed with my left, then I swung with my right, and then I-!"

"Oh, for the last time, what happened to Mowgli?" Bagheera asked.

"Like I told you, them mangy monkey Heartless carried em' off!" Baloo replied.

"Heartless took Mowgli?" Sora and his party ran up, Sora's weapon disappearing.

"The Ancient Ruins! Oh, I hate to think what will happen when he meets that king of theirs…" Bagheera said.

"Will they turn him into a Heartless?" Kairi asked.

"At the least!" Bagheera said.

"What's worse?" Sora asked.

"They're bad role-modals and they could corrupt his morals!"

Everyone fell silent and looked a Bagheera. Baloo discretely pointed at the panther and made little circles around his own ear with his other hand.

**At the Ancient Ruins…**

Sora, Max, Kairi, Bagheera and Baloo all ran through the jungle, slaying various 'Wild' Heartless that they came across. Eventually they reached a huge ruined temple in the middle of the jungle. "Wow…" Kairi said as she admired the architecture.

"Save it, we have to get Mowgli out of there!" Sora said said. They ran into the temple and stood over a huge courtyard on a balcony. Down below, they saw a crowd of Heartless, and several normal monkeys. In the center of the group, Mowgli, again oblivious to the imminent danger, being held in the air by a large monkey, whom Bagheera had explained was King Louie. Mowgli's little red pants looked like they were going to fall off as he swung his fists at the monkey.

"Cool it, boy," Louie said. "Unwind yourself." He tried to catch Mowgli's hands. "Now, come on, let's shake, cousin." He got a hold of the man cub's hand and shook it violently.

"Wha- What do you want me for?" Mowgli asked.

"Word has grabbed my royal ear that you want to stay in the jungle," he said as he shot a banana into Mowgli's mouth. He plopped the peel on the man cub's head like a crown.

"Day in da dungle? I sure do!" He said, a mouthful of banana muffling his words.

"Good. Because old King Louie - that's me - can fix it for ya!" he put Mowgli down and shot two bananas into his mouth. "Have we got a deal?" he asked as Mowgli stuffed his face.

"Yes dir!" he replied as his checks expanded to twice their normal size. "I'll-!" he gulped down some banana. "I'll do adything to dtay in the dungle!" he finished as banana practically fell out of his mouth.

"Well then…" King Louie said with a devious smile, which Mowgli didn't understand. "I'll lay it on the line for you." Real monkeys started slapping rocks and making trumpet like noises with their mouths. Then King Louie started to sing.

_ "Now I'm the king of the swingers, oh, the jungle VIP!_

_I've reached the top and had to stop, and that's what botherin' me. I wanna be a man, man cub, and stroll right into town. And be just like the other men, cus' I'm tired of monkeyin' around!_

_ Oh, oobee doo! I wanna be like you! I wanna walk like you! Talk like you, too-oo-oo! You'll see it's true-u-ue! An ape like me-e-e! Can learn to be human too!" _

All the real monkeys had started to dance, while the Heartless just stood as still as statues, their glowing yellow eyes following Mowgli's every move.

"Gee, cousin Louie, you sure are fun!" Mowgli laughed.

"Now here's your part of the deal, cuz," Louie jumped over to Mowgli and turned an ear to the man cub. "Lay the secret on me, of man's red fire."

"But… I don't know how to make fire!" Mowgli said.

Louie picked Mowgli up by his pants again, the boy dangling upside-down.

"_Now, don't try and kid me man cub… I made a deal with you! What I desire is man's red fire, to make my dream come true! Give me the secret, man cub! Clue me what to do! Give me the power, of man's red flower, so I can be like you!" _King Louie sang.

King Louie dropped the boy to the ground and continued dancing, and Mowgli did too.

"Fire!" Bagheera exclaimed. "So that's what that scoundrel's after!"

"I'll tear him limb from limb!" Baloo said. "I'll beat him, then I'll… I'll…" He noticed the music and started dancing. "Well yeah… Man, what a beat!" He slowly started to dance off, not noticed by any of the others.

"This is going to take brains, not brawn," Bagheera said.

"You better believe it and I'm loaded with both!" Baloo said over his shoulder.

Bagheera ignored him. "Now Baloo, you need to create a disturbance while Max and I rescue Mowgli. Got that?"

"I'm gone, Baggy! Solid gone!" Baloo said as he walked around a corner and out of sight.

"NOT YET, BALOO!" everyone yelled as they noticed he was gone. Around the corner, the real monkeys' and Mowgli's footsteps were herd.

"Uh-oh," Sora said. He and his party ran off down the hall just as the parade came into sight. Bagheera stood still and pretended to be a statue. As the singing and dancing crowd passed, Bagheera reached slowly for Mowgli, who was still marching along in the back.

But suddenly a door swung open and pushed the panther out of the way. Out of the door came a poorly disguised Baloo, wearing a coconut bikini and a split coconut over his mouth, making it look more monkey like. "Hey!!" he cried as he jumped into the group and started singing. King Louie fell for the act and started dancing with the 'monkey'. _"Zap-ban-dona! Hap-adeu-pap-bobay! Hey! Bamb-done! Do-da-da!"_

King Louie joined. _"Happa-do-de!"_

_"With a big ba-na-na!" _

_"Heb-er-a-boy-doy!"_

_"And a ha-ha-haza!"_

_"Herra-boop! Herra-boop!"_

_"Wha! Wha! Wha!"_

Mowgli was clapping and dancing in place as Heartless slowly surrounded him. He started doing a sort of jig as he worked his way back to the courtyard. He got there and quickly realized that he was all alone besides the strange black skinned and yellow eyed monkeys. He turned and started to walk back to the stairs. The Heartless blocked the stairs off and surrounded him. "Hey, cousins! What's up?" he asked innocently as he continued dancing. A sniperwild shot one of it's little rocks at the back of his head, and the man cub collapsed, unconscious.

"Hey!" Sora jumped over the advancing Heartless and landed next to Mowgli. "Back off!" he yelled as he summoned his keyblade. The Heartless closed in, only to have their lines broken by the charging Kairi and Max, both slashing and hacking with their claws and teeth. The three surrounded Mowgli and prepared to defend themselves.

While Sora and his group were busy, Baloo had been compromised and he and Bagheera were currently running from overwhelming squads of Heartless and monkeys while looking for Mowgli. "Got any idea where Mowgli is?" Baloo yelled.

"You know, if you would just stay with us, then we would already have Mowgli and be gone!" Bagheera replied.

"You know, those other three you were hanging with seem to have deserted us."

"They're probably looking for Mowgli!"

"More like found him!" Sora and Max ran up. Kairi soon caught up, with a conscious Mowgli on her back.

"Baloo!" he cried. He jumped off Kairi, only to have a monkey grab him and run off. Then a Sniperwild blasted the monkey away and grabbed the man cub. Then King Louie ambushed the Heartless and picked Mowgli up only to be bashed on the head by Baloo. King Louie started chasing Baloo all over the palace.

They reached the very top of the temple, which was crumbling after the effects of Sora's spar with the Heartless on the lower floors. One of the pillars collapsed and King Louie jumped under it to try and support the tower of his palace. Baloo smirked and ran over to the ape. He tickled the King's armpits and he started to lose his grip. A group of Heartless slammed into Baloo, forcing him into the King's place, while Louie himself was thrown through another pilar. Baloo waved and left his spot. He ran over to Mowgli, picked him up, and ran off as the tower started to crumble. He dropped Mowgli onto Bagheera's back as the party dashed away from the collapsing temple.

"Man! That's what I call a swingn' party!" Baloo said as they ran off. Everyone minus Mowgli groaned.

**There you have it! Star Wars episode one and Jungle Book!**

**All you Star Wars fans are saying: "But the Galactic Empire wasn't established until Episode Three. And the soldiers weren't called Stormtroopers until some time between three and four. And Anakin was twenty three around that time."**

**Here's what I have to say to you: what is the only logical answer? Consider first that Riku, Yuffie and P.J. traveled through a worm hole in time and space. You're smart. You'll figure it out.**

**I don't own Colonel Hathi, Baloo, King Louie, Anakin Skywalker, Master Qui-Gon, Padme, Jar-Jar, R2-D2, or Watto. I don't own the Heartless either.**


	9. UnHEARTly Changes

**And so it goes on. It's gonna take two full chapters to finish the Jungle Book loop, so I'm gonna wrap it up before we get back to Riku and Yuffie.**

**Oh, and you should know that the speed of my updates is going to slow down a bit. **

**Chapter 9: UnHEARTly Changes**

**That night, at the reflection pool…**

Mowgli had fallen asleep, along with Sora and Kairi. Baloo was leaning up against a tree with Bagheera and Max sitting next to him. Bagheera was having an argument with Baloo, who didn't seem to be paying attention at all.

"And further more, Baloo, Mowgli seems to have man's ability to get into trouble!" Bagheera said. "And your influence hasn't been exactly-!"

"Shhsss!" Baloo hissed. "Keep it down. Your gonna wake up little Mowgli!" He looked over the man cub, who was sleeping peacefully on a bed of leaves with a huge grin spread across his face. Bagheera scoffed.

"Well, he's had a big day…" Max said as he looked to Sora and Kairi, who looked very strange sleeping next to each other because they were deferent species.

"He was a real champ!" Baloo said. "You know, it ain't easy learning to be like me!"

Bagheera snorted. "A disgraceful performance! Associating with those undesirable, scatterbrained apes!... I hope he learned something from that experience."

"I doubt it," Max put in. "He seemed to have no idea about the position that he was in."

Mowgli suddenly yawned a bit and let out a weak, "Wanna be like you… scoby do-be bop…"

"Ha ha!" Baloo chuckled. "That's my boy!"

Max merely said, "I rest my case."

Bagheera frowned and walked over to the pool as Baloo covered a blissfully smiling Mowgli with leaves to keep him warm.

"Baloo," Bagheera called. The bear looked at him. "Come over here. I'd like to have a word with you."

"A word?" Baloo asked as he stood up. "You're gonna talk some more?" He yawned as he reached the pool. "All right, what's up, Bagheera?"

The panther sighed. Max stood in for him. "Baloo," he started. "A Mowgli must go back to the man village."

"Right," Bagheera said as Baloo started eating some berries. "The jungle is not the place for him!"

"I grew up in the jungle!" Baloo said as he ate another berry. "Take a look at me!"

"Yes! Just look at yourself!" Bagheera retorted. "Look at that eye!"

Baloo looked into the pool and saw the purple bruise on his left eye. "Yeah…" Baloo said. "It's beautiful, ain't it?" He clearly thought it looked manly.

"Na…" Bagheera scowled. "Frankly you're a disreputable-!"

"Hey!" Max yelled. "You don't exactly look like a basket of fruit yourself, so don't use that against him. It's unfair."

Bagheera looked into the water and saw an equally purple bruise on his right eye. "Baloo," Bagheera ignored Max's comment. "You can't adopt Mowgli as your son."

"Why not?" the bear asked with an I'm-not-so-interested tone.

"How can I put it?" Bagheera thought out loud.

"Baloo," Max started. "Birds of a feather should flock together." Baloo shrugged in agreement. "You wouldn't marry a panther, would you?"

"I don't know…" Baloo replied. Then he chuckled. "Come to think of it, no panther ever asked me!" he elbowed Bagheera playfully at the statement.

"Baloo, listen!" Max cried.

"Oh, stop worrying, the both of ya! I'll take care of little britches!"

"Yes, just like you did when the Heartless kidnapped him!" Bahgeera caught on to what Max was playing at.

"Can't a guy make one mistake?" Baloo asked as he tried to reach an itch on his back.

"Not in the jungle!" Bagheera exclaimed.

"And there's another thing," Max said. "Sooner or later, Mowgli will meet Shere Khan!"

"The tiger?" Baloo was suddenly serious. "What's he got against the kid?"

"He hates man with a vengeance, you know that!" Bagheera reminded him. "Because he fears man's tools and weapons!"

"But little Mowgli don't have those things!" Baloo argued.

"The tiger isn't going to wait until he does!" Bagheera yelled. "He'll get Mowgli while he's young and helpless and naïve! Just one swipe of his claws and-!"

"Well… well what are we going to do?" the bear asked.

"You do what's best for the boy," Bagheera said.

"Then you name it and I'll do it!!" Baloo answered.

"Good," Max said. "Then make Mowgli go to the man village!"

"Are you out of your mind?!?" Baloo yelled. "I promised him he could stay in the jungle with me!"

"Well that's just the point!!" Bagheera smiled as he realized that they were getting somewhere. "As long as he says with you, he's in danger!!"

"So it's up to you," Max finished.

"Why me?" Baloo cried.

"Because he won't listen us!" Bagheera answered.

Baloo realized that he had no defense. "Well… I love that kid…" he said solemnly. "I love em' like he was my own cub!" he said as he looked to Mowgli's sleeping figure.

"Then think of what's best for Mowgli, and not yourself!" Bagheera insisted angrily.

"Well… well can't I wait until morning?" the bear asked.

"It's morning now," Bagheera replied.

Max noticed that it was indeed light out. Baloo sighed and walked slowly and sadly over to the sleeping Mowgli, who let out a soft breath and a yawn. "Uh… Mowgli?" Baloo asked. "…Mowgli? It's time to get up."

Mowgli rubbed his eyes and stretched as he woke from his sleep. "Oh. Hey Baloo!"

"Hiya!" Baloo said, trying to sound enthusiastic. "Hey, you... you just rub that old sleep out of your eyes... you and me... got a long walk ahead of us."

"Swell!" Mowgli cried, jumping to his feet. A few meters away, Mowgli and Kairi woke. "Gee, we'll have lots of fun together!"

"Sure... yeah," Baloo said glumly. He quickly tried to look confident. "Alright kid, let's hit the trail."

The bear made a reluctant wave at the others. "See ya round... uh... Bagheera... Max.. Kairi..... Sora."

"Yeah! Good-bye Bagheera and Max and Kairi and Sora!! Me and Baloo... we've got things to do!"

"Good-bye, man cub," Bagheera said. Then, discreetly, he muttered, "And good luck."

"Did we miss something?" Sora asked as he and Kairi walked over.

"Baloo is escorting Mowgli to the man village without him knowing," Bagheera answered quite simply.

"So... all clear?" Kairi asked.

"It would appear so," Max replied.

There was silence for a few moments.

Then Kairi said, "Sora? Can I.... talk with you for a second?"

"Uh... sure," Sora said, a questioning look on his face.

The two walked off as Bagheera looked to Max. "Is there a... _thing _between them?"

"You... could put it that way," Max replied. "They're just a bit too stupid to realize they love each other in my opinion."

Kairi and Sora stopped a little ways away from the pool, blocked visual from Bagheera and Max by some trees and shrubs. "What... what did you want to talk about, Kairi?"

"About..." The words seemed to stop in her mouth. "About... us."

"Er.... what do you mean by that?"

"I had a dream last night." She sighed. "Not just last night. Sora... We kissed." She looked to her friend. "Maybe we're meant to be more than friends."

Silence. Sora was having a hard time comprehending what she was saying. "When we kissed," he started at last. "We had just lost a bunch of friends. Do you think.... Maybe is was just a mistake?"

Kairi, unnoticed by Sora, drew back a few steps. Was he not even able to think about this?

"Kairi, we've been friends a long time, and we just felt... kinda at a loss then. It didn't mean anything."

Kairi was taken aback. She had thought... perhaps... he would agree with her. She turned away from Sora. "It didn't mean anything?" she asked. "It didn't mean ANYTHING?!?" Now she whipped back to face her 'friend'. "Incase you didn't know, when people kiss it usually means _something_."

"Kairi, all I meant was-"

"All you meant was that you enjoy ripping girl's Hearts out," she said in a dark tone. "How many did you go through while you were away?"

"What? No! No, Kairi, it's not like that-"

"I just felt..... felt like my Heart was telling me to do something." She glared at Sora. "Oh well."

And with that, all of the sudden, Kairi bolted off into the jungle.

"Wha-?" Sora suddenly realized what he had done. "Stupid, stupid, STUPID!!!" he cried. If he had hands, he would have been smacking his forehead.

Bagheera and Max ran up. "What's wrong?" they asked in unison.

"Kairi... S-she just... bolted!!" Sora stuttered.

"Why did she run?" Max asked.

Sora froze. He wasn't up to discussing this.

Suddenly they all herd a voice in the distance. "Mowgli? Mowgli?!?"

"That's a great sign," Max sighed. Sora quitly thanked his lucky stars for the destraction.

The group shot off through the jungle towards Baloo's voice. They soon found the bear.

"Oh, what's happened now?" Bagheera asked.

"Look, I know that you're not going to believe me, Bagheera, but look. I used the exact same words that you and Max did and the kid ran out on me!" Baloo cried with tears in his eyes.

"Come on! Kairi runs out on us and now this?" Max yelled.

"Well don't just stand here!!" Sora cried. "Let's split up! We've got to find them!" Sora ran in one direction, Bagheera and Max in another, and Baloo, totally flabbergasted, spun around a few times before dashing off to God-knows-where.

"Oh, if anything happens to that little guy I'll never forgive myself," he muttered as he disappeared into the jungle. "I've gotta find him!"

**Elsewhere…**

A tiger walked slowly through the tall grass around him looking for a meal. He soon spotted one; a small doe was grazing in a field. Shere Khan smiled as he slowly approached. A second later, their was the sound of a trumpet and the great stomp of huge feet. The deer ran off at the noise as a song broke out from the elephant patrol.

_"Hup, two, three, four! Hup, two, three, four! Keep it up! Two, three four!" _

"What beastly luck," Shere Khan muttered with a thick British accent. "Confound that ridiculous Colonel Hahti!"

"Company sound off!" Hahti cried.

"_Oh, we march from here to there, and it doesn't matter where! You can hear us push through the deepest bush. Hup! Two, three, four! With a military air! With a military air!"_

Suddenly a voice rang out. "HALT!"

The company came to a screeching halt, each of the elephants slamming into each other in turn.

"What? Who said halt?" Hahti asked. "I give the commands around here! Now, speak up! Who was it?"

"Oh, it was me, Colonel!" The elephant looked up to see Bagheera and Max in the trees.

"What do you mean, sir?" Hahti exclaimed. "Taking over my command! Highly irregular, you know!"

"Oh, Colonel, I'm sorry, but I need your help!" Bagheera exclaimed. Shere Khan slowly approached the scene in the shadows.

"Oh, ridiculous! We're on a cross-country march!" Hahti replied.

"But, Colonel, it's an emergency!" Max yelled. "The man cub must be found quickly!" Shere Khan listened more intently.

"Man cub? What man cub?" Hahti asked.

"How interesting…" Shere Khan said to himself.

"The one I was taking to the man village!" Bagheera explained.

"Good, that's where he belongs," the Colonel replied. "Now if you will excuse me, we would like to get on with the march!"

"No, no, no, no! You don't understand, Hahti!" Bagheera yelled.

"The man cub is lost," Max explained. "He ran away!"

"How delightful…" Shere Khan muttered.

"Well, serves the young whippier-snapper right!" Hahti replied.

"But Shere Khan!" Bagheera said. "He's sure to kill the man cub if he gets the chance!"

Hahti chuckled. "Shere Khan, old boy! Ha! Shere Khan isn't within miles of here!"

Shere Khan chuckled to himself and walked off into the jungle.

**Elsewhere in the jungle…**

Kairi ran at full speed through the jungle, tears flying away behind her.

"_I was stupid,"_ she thought. _"Why would he think anything of me? Big hero like himself... probably forgot I existed while he was away..."_

She continued through the jungle until she felt a strange sensation overtake her body. She stopped dead, more because she had to than by choice.

She started to glow with a green aura, and slowly, she changed back into her human self.

"Wh-What is this?" She looked down at her now perfectly human hands. "I'm human again?" She stood. "Man, Sora really should have said something about the spell wearing off..."

But indeed, it was not the spell wearing off. It was Darkness. Kairi's Heart was made of light. That didn't mean it could be _clouded_.

The second she had said those strange, hateful words to Sora, Darkness entered her body, but not her Heart. It was hovering around her Heart, clouding her judgment and her Light. There wasn't much Darkness there, but it was enough to push away the form Sora had given her.

"Ah, who cares," she muttered as she continued to walk through the jungle.

She passed by a huge roaring waterfall that sprayed pleasantly on her body. She sat down on a rock for a minute but found herself restless and moved on.

After several minutes she felt the need to rest again, and plopped down on the knobby roots of a large tree.

Suddenly she felt something wrap around her waist and give a tug. Kairi looked down in surprise as she was lifted of the ground and into the tree above her. There seemed to be some kind of vine wrapped around her.

No, not a vine. A coil. Kairi gasped with fear as another part of the coil wrapped around her belly. The coil below her expanded, and she fell into it like a cushion that hadn't been stuffed enough.

As she passed through the branches and leaves and higher still, she looked around wildly for her captor. She soon found the answer; a huge snake with bright yellow eyes.

Kairi instinctively started looking for a way to get the coils off, but the annoying hissing of the snake distracted her.

"Ssssalutationssss," the snake hissed.

"Just get off of me, you jerk," Kairi said shortly as she finally got rid of the coil around her belly. The coil around her butt tightened to stop her from escaping.

"My name isss Kaa, the sssnake," Kaa said.

"Kaa?" Kairi asked. "I know you.... you attacked Mowgli the other night!... Didn't you?"

Kaa was thoughtful. There certainly hadn't been any other man cubs there that night. Unless...

"Girl cub," Kaa started. "What is your name?"

"It's Kairi! Now get off of me and leave me alone!"

"_Kairi! Isn't that the girl?... Oh, I smell a promotion!" _

Kaa smiled and loosened the coils around Kairi enough to let her escape. "Let me look at you..." Kaa said slyly. His head loomed in front of Kairi's and his hypnotic colors flashed.

Suddenly, Kairi felt like she should let the snake look at her. Yes, and let him look back! That would make him very happy...

"_What do I need to look at a snake for?"_ a small region of conscience mind asked. Kairi shook her head and looked away. "Whatever."

"You don't... want me to look at you?" Kaa asked. Kairi nodded, crossing her arms as she faced away from the snake. "Then... you look at me." Kaa's coils twisted Kairi's body around until she was staring into the snake's eyes again.

Kaa didn't have enough time to start his colors before Kairi pulled away. "Just leave me alone and go AWAY!!" The last word of Kairi's sentence was shouted because Kaa had wrapped part of his coils around her wrist.

Kaa chuckled. This girl could be some fun to bring under his power. In the few seconds he had had access to her mind, he had seen the pain and grief that was fresh on her mind. But what...?

"Ssso, you're going to jussst walk out without even asking for help?" His tone was full of fake sorrow.

"I don't need your help," Kairi said as she got the tail off of her wrist. Although Kairi hadn't noticed, she was indeed tiring for the efforts she was putting up against the coils.

"Oh, yesss you do," Kaa hissed as another coil wrapped around her ankle.

"Really?" Kairi said sarcastically, looking for the snake. He seemed to have disappeared.

"Ccccertainly." Kairi jumped as the voice came from behind her. The coil fell off of her ankle as Kaa slowly made circles around Kairi. "I feel the pain that surrounds you... a friend who is neglecting his love...."

Kairi stared at the snake. "H-how do you know that?"

"I have my waysss..." Kaa said, lifting a coil around Kairi's shoulders and then letting it drop, almost like an arm wrapped around her. "I came make his sshow his true feelings...." Kaa shoved his face up into Kairi's. "Would you like me to ssshow you how it worksss?"

A few colors slowly passed through the snake's eyes, enticing Kairi.

"_You don't care about Sora anymore,"_ a voice somewhere in the back of her mind whispered.

Kairi pulled away and started looking for a way out of the tree. "I really could care less about that looser Sora."

"_Sora!"_ Kaa thought. _"Maleficent is gonna have a field day!!"_

Kaa quickly followed Kairi and threw coils around her head, covering her eyes. The coil was to tight that it locked Kairi in place. "I don't blame you," Kaa said. "But I'm not like thosse so-called 'fair-weather-friendssss' of yours."

Kairi pushed at the coils on her head, first one way, then the other.

"You can believe in me, girl cub."

Kaa loosened the coil around Kairi's head, and her shoves were suddenly more than what was needed. The coils flew off, and Kairi could see again.... and all she saw were spiraling colors.

Colors that spiraled so fast that they seemed to take Kairi over. A Kairi who had just walked and run through the jungle; a Kairi who had just expunged what was left of her energy removing coils from her body.

And now, Kairi felt the powerful urge to give in.

The Darkness clouding her Heart had identified the snake as a powerful ally of the Dark. _"Yes,"_ urged the Darkness. _"Stare deeper into the snake's eyes. You can trust him."_

Blue, the ocean... green, the trees... yellow, the paupu fruit she longed to share...

"_Trust in me..."_ the snake began to sing. _"Jusst... in me."_

Kairi's eyes reflected the color of Kaa's eyes. Her jaw went slack and her eyes widened. Trust. She couldn't trust Sora. If she couldn't trust him, who could she trust?

"_You can trust him,"_ the Darkness said. _"You must."_

Kairi couldn't trust anyone. But she wanted to. To trust. She wanted to trust. Trust someone. She didn't want to think anymore. Or talk. Just trust. Trust this snake. Trust Kaa.

A wide smile crept across Kairi's face as her eyes seemed to grow to larger that their normal size. The Darkness had canceled all defense against the hypnosis. Kairi was wide open. Her mind was clear as a slate, her body losing all control of it's self. Her bladder opened wide as her weak body swayed in tiredness. Her hearing beat to the pulse of the spirals. Nothing existed but the colors. Nothing.

"_Sssshut your eyesss,"_ Kaa continued to sing. He made beckoning motions with his tail. Kairi nodded dumbly and closed her eyes, fast asleep. But Kaa's words still reached her, as did his actions. _"Trussst in me...."_ Kairi, still smiling in her newfound sleep, took large and clumsy steps towards Kaa.

She continued to walk, to trust, to believe, to listen to her master's words.

"Hold still please," Kaa said. Kairi stopped. A good thing too; she had almost walked right off the edge of the tree.

Kaa continued his song as he created a long stair case out of his coils and made another beckoning motion to Kairi. She nodded and stepped off the tree and onto the coils. _"You can sleep... Safe and sound...."_ the snake sang.

Yes. Sleep. Safe and sound. Sleep.

Kairi came to the edge of the tail. She was about to walk off the edge when the rest of Kaa's body shot out under her.

"_Knowing I... am around...."_

Yes. Safe. Very safe. With Kaa. Trust Kaa. Only Kaa. Trust.

Kaa rotated his coil so that Kairi was standing in a huge circle, more coils resting on her head. They restrained her, no allowing her to move at all. Oh, her legs tried to walk. Her master hadn't told her to stop. But soon, she just walked up the side of the circle until she was upside down. Kaa released the circle so that it was now a mere hammock. Kairi slid down the tail and came to a rest in the hammock.

"_Ssslip into sssilent ssslumber..."_ Kaa sang as he started rocking Kairi back and forth, deepening her sleep and her trance. _"Ssail on a silver missst..."_

The coil started to curl and send Kairi up.

"_Sslowly but surely your sensesss will ccease..."_

Kaa stopped as his tail popped Kairi into the air. The tip of Kaa's tail caught her again. But Kaa hadn't given Kairi orders to move. She stayed stiff as a board, despite her only support being a tiny little object located near the center of her back. Kaa tossed her again, and this time the tail caught her head. She was doing a head-stand on Kaa's tail, her hair falling over her face.

"_...to resist,"_ Kaa finished.

No resistance. Trust. Trust Kaa. Do as he says. Nothing else matters. Nothing else exists.

Kairi let out a few soft snores.

"You're snoring, girl cub," Kaa commented.

Kairi yawned. "S.... sorry."

Kaa laughed inwardly at how helpless the girl was.

"_Trust in me.... just in me...."_ he continued to sing. He decided that he had played with the girl enough. He formed a spiral out of his coils, and Kairi, still smiling, slid down it softly into a warm blanket of coils that wrapped tightly around her.

"_Shut your eyes.... and trust in me."_

**For those of you who are wondering about the Darkness in Kairi's Heart... It's not in her Heart. I made that very clear. It is **_**around**_** her Heart. And you may also be asking why the Darkness is talking to her when no one else's Darkness is. **

**Think of it this way: if you lived in a house your entire life, or underground or something, and then you went out into the open. You would feel the wind hitting your face, but you would have no idea what it was.**

**Everyone has Darkness in their Heart from the second they are born so it is a feeling so natural that they don't even notice it. If a Princess of Heart even had Darkness enter her body would feel like she had been hit by a train. Not literally, of course...**

**Anyway, the Darkness is whispering to her subconsciously, baiting her on what to do. **

**I'll shut up now and let you get on with your lives.**


	10. Everyone Needs a Friend!

**The conclusion of the Jungle Book loop!! We'll also get a better look at the influence of Kairi's Darkness. **

**On a side note, notice that I changed the name from 'Bliss of Heart' to 'Kingdom Hearts: Bliss of Heart'. I'm hoping that this will make it more conspicuous and I'll receive more hits.**

**Chapter 10: Everyone Needs a Friend!**

**Somewhere...**

Kairi slept contently in Kaa's coils, awaiting any commands that might come from her master. Until then, she would sleep.

"_Yes,"_ her Darkness said. _"Continue to sleep until Kaa wakes you. There is no reason to wake."_

Sleep was all that Kairi knew. Why did she need to learn? She was content.

"_No.... there is someone I need to know..."_ Kairi thought. A strange image floated through her mind. A boy about her age with brown, spiky hair. _"Who is that?"_ Kairi asked her Darkness.

"_No one,"_ the Darkness answered. _"Nothing exists but you and Kaa."_

"_But what about you, Darkness?"_ Kairi asked. _"Don't you exist too?"_

"_Yes, but I am a part of you,"_ the Darkness explained. _"So when I say you exist, I also say that I exist."_

"_Oh,"_ thought Kairi. _"I suppose that makes sense."_ She stopped. _"Then who is the boy?"_

"_What boy?"_

"_The boy I just saw."_

"_You saw no boy,"_ Darkness told her. _"What is this 'boy'?"_

"_I don't know,"_ Kairi answered. _"The word just came to me. 'Boy'."_

"_There is no such thing as this 'boy',"_ Darkness said. _"Only you and Kaa."_

"_Are you sure?"_ Kairi asked.

"_Positive." _

"_I have to be sure. I'm going to wake up. Just for a second."_

"_What? No, Kairi. You mustn't do that."_

"_Why not? If I and Kaa are the only things that exist, then I should be able to open my eyes for just a moment. If the boy exists, he will be right here with us. If I don't see him, I'll go back to sleep."_

"_Damn!" _the Darkness cried inwardly._ "The fool snake's hypnosis has worn off!!"_

Kairi slowly opened her eyes. The second she woke, the memories came flooding back. The world, her friends, Sora, and the snake.

But the memories of her conversation with Darkness... her hypnosis... all flew from her mind. The last thing she had seen or heard was when she was pushing that stupid snake's coils off her head.

Now she seemed to be wrapped in something. But what?

The sky was dark; it was dusk. Kairi slowly squirmed her way out of her bonds. It didn't matter what her bonds actually were. It probably had something to do with that dumb snake. Oh well.

Kairi realized that she was in a tree. She jumped to a near vine and slid down to the ground.

Kaa wouldn't even know that his quarry had escaped him until the morning. It was a good thing Maleficent didn't know that the girl cub had ever been in his coils. Otherwise, he would have been a dead snake.

Kairi continued slowly through the jungle, wondering if the others would find her. _"I sure hope not,"_ Kairi thought.

**Elsewhere in the Jungle...**

Mowgli had been having his own adventures all day. He had hiked from one end of the jungle to the other, climbed up a cliff, tried to find his way back to his wolf family but failed, and finally, he was there. He was standing on parched ground, scarred by what could have only been fire. He didn't know what he was doing there, only that he was there. He didn't even notice the four vultures (who looked suspiciously like the Beatles) sitting in a tree about twenty meters from him.

One of the vultures yawned before nudging one of his companions. "Ay' Flaps," he said. "What we gonna do?"

The bird, Flaps, shrugged. "I dunno. What you wanna do?"

"I've got it!" one of the other ones cried. "Let's flap over to the East side of the Jungle. They've always got a bit of action-with-a-bit-of-swingn'-scene, alright?"

"Ah, come off it," the first one said. "Things are right dead all over!"

"You mean you wish they were. Ah? Ahhh?" the third one stressed his pun.

He and the other two laughed, but the fourth just said, "Very funny."

The first one shrugged and looked to Flaps. "Alright, so what we gonna do?"

"I dunno, what you wanna do?"

The first one sighed. "Look, Flaps, first I say 'What we gonna do?'. Then you say 'I dunno, what you wanna do?'. Then I say 'What ch' wanna do?', and you say 'What ch' wanna do?'!! Come on! Let's do SOMETHING!!!"

"Okay," said Flaps. "...Uh... what ch' wanna do?"

"Blimme.... there you go again. The same notes again!"

"I've got it!" the third one cried again. "This time I've really got it!"

"Okay, you got it," the first one replied. "What we gonna do?"

"Hold it lads," the fourth one said. "Look what's coming are way..."

"Ay, what in the world is that?" Flaps cried. The four had spotted Mowgli approaching their position.

"What a crazy looken' bunch of bones!" the fourth one laughed. "And they're all walken about by themselves!" All four of them broke into fits of laughter.

"So, what we gonna do?" the first asked again.

"I dunno.... hey, now don't start that again!!"

"Ah, come on lads!" the third said. He started pushing his friends towards the edge of the branch. "Let's have a little fun with this little kid! This little chap!!"

All four of them glided to the ground and waddled towards the man cub.

Almost at the same time, Kairi walked onto the parched land scape. She saw Mowgli and the vultures and quickly hid behind a tree. But she was still close enough to hear what they were saying...

"Blimme," Flaps said. "He's got legs like a stork, he does!"

"Yeah, like a stork!" the first one laughed. "But he ain't got no feathers, he ain't!"

All four of them started laughing as Mowgli started crying. "Go ahead. Laugh," he said as he walked away from them. "I don't care."

"What's wrong with him?" the fourth asked.

"I think we over did it," Flaps answered.

"We was just having a bit of fun. That's all," the fourth added.

"Aw, just look at him," the first said. "The poor little fella. You know, he must be down on his luck."

"Yeah. Or he wouldn't be in our part of town," the fourth commented.

"Hey! New kid!" the first cried, going after Mowgli. "Wait a minute! Stop!"

"Just leave me alone," Mowgli said, looking at his feet.

The vulture jumped in front of Mowgli, stopping him. "Hey, what's wrong? You look like you haven't go a friend in the world."

"I haven't," Mowgli said. Kairi was taken aback. What had happened between that boy and Baloo?

"Haven't you got a mother or a father?" the fourth vulture asked as the rest of his group rushed over.

"No. Nobody wants me around."

"_Wow,"_ Kairi thought. _"He must view going to the man village as his friends trying to get rid of him!"_

"Yeah, we know how you feel kid," the first vulture said, shaking his head.

"No body wants us around either," Flaps said.

"Hey, we may look a bit shabby, but we still got Hearts!" The first smiled as he said it.

"And feelings, too," the fourth added.

"And just to prove it to ya," the first said. "We're gonna let you join our little band... er... group!"

"Kid, we'd like to make you an honorary Beatle!... no, wait.... vulture!!" Flaps cried at last.

"Thanks, but... I'd rather be on my own, alone," Mowgli said.

"_You tell em' Mowgli!"_ Kairi thought. _"They'd probably just make fun of you again!"_

"Aw, now look kid... everyone has got to ave' friends!" the third told Mowgli.

The first smiled. "Hey fellas? Aren't we his friends?!?"

"_We're your friends..."_ the vultures harmonized. _"We're your friends! Your friends to the bitter end!!"_

"_The bitter end....."_ the first echoed.

"_When you're alone!"_ Flaps sang,

"_When you're alone!!"_ the others followed.

"_Who comes around?"_

"_Who comes around?"_

"_To pluck you up....."_

"_When you are down......"_

All four sang, _"And when you're.... outside looking in, who's there to open the door?"_

"Come on kid, we need a tenor!" the first said, shoving Mowgli into the group.

"_That's what friend are for!!"_

"_He's always eager to extend a friendly..." _

"_Claw!!"_

"_That's what friend are for!!"_

Mowgli smiled a bit. Kairi just watched.

"_And when you're lost... in dire need! Who's at your side? At lightning speed?"_

Kairi continued to watch as Mowgli started clapping to the beat. But she heard something else. She looked to the right of the happy group and saw something approaching through the brush...

"_We're friends with every creature coming down the pike! In fact we never met a animal that we didn't like!!"_

"You take it kid," the first said with a wink.

"_Didn't li-i-ike!!"_ Mowgli sang, drawing out the last word.

"_So you can see,"_ sang the first.

"_That we're all friends!"_ the fourth jumped in,

"_We're friends indeed!!" _

"_You're a friend in need!"_

"_And friends in need..."_

"_Are friends indeed!!"_

"_We'll stay beside you in the jungle forever more!" _

Suddenly and new, dark, evil voice joined. _"That's what friends are for!!"_

Kairi stifled a scream behind her hand. It was a tiger! Could it be Shere Khan? Oh-no... she was still in her human form...

The vultures ran and cowered behind Mowgli's back. The tiger started clapping with his paws. "Bravo, bravo," he applauded. "An extraordinary performance!" He took a few menacing steps closer. "And thank you for detaining my meal." He was talking to the vultures.

"Don't mention it," Flaps said worriedly. He gulped. "You're highness."

"_Slippery jerks!"_ Kairi thought _"This was all a setup!"_

The tiger chuckled. "Boo."

"AAAHHHHGGGHHGGGG!!" all four vultures jumped into the air and bolted back to their tree.

"Run, friend, RUN!!" the first yelled.

"Run?" Mowgli asked. "Why should I run?"

Kairi almost smiled. Either Mowgli was one of the bravest people she had ever met, or one of the dumbest. But then she looked to the vultures. The looked genuinely scared and really concerned for Mowgli. Maybe the tiger had just gotten lucky, and it hadn't been planned.

"Why should you run?" the tiger asked. "Could it be possible that you don't know who I am?"

"I know you alright," Mowgli said. "You're Shere Khan!"

"Precisely," Shere Khan said, extending his claws. "Then you should know that everyone runs from Shere Khan."

"You don't scare me," Mowgli replied angrily. "I'm not gonna run from anyone!"

Kairi decided that Mowgli was just dumb.

"Ah! You have spirit for one so small. Such spirit is deserving of a sporting chance." The tiger stopped to think for a moment. "I know. I'll close my eyes and count to ten. It makes the chase more interesting. For me."

The vultures and Kairi watched in horror as Shere Khan closed his eyes and said "One.... Two...."

But Mowgli didn't run. He grabbed a stick. He was going to stand his ground!!

The tiger noticed the lack of hastened foot steps. "You are trying my patience. Three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten!!!!"

"RRRRROOOOOOWWWWWWRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!"

At that moment, looking death in the eye, Mowgli understood why they had tried to take him to the man village. This tiger was no mere animal; he was a monster.

"Run Mowgli, RUN!!!!"

Baloo had grabbed the tiger's tail!!

"Get off of me you big oaf!" Shere Khan yelled, taking a swipe at the bear. Now it looked like the cat was trying to catch his tail. He just barely couldn't reach Baloo.

"That bloke has got a tiger by the tail, he has!!!" the first vulture cried.

"He better hang on, too," Flaps put in.

Finally the tiger landed a blow; he bit Baloo's butt. Man, that'd hurt!

Suddenly Sora and Max were on the scene. Sora jumped in and started hitting Shere Khan with his Keyblade, and Max tried and failed to keep Mowgli away from the action.

"Let me at him!!" Mowgli ordered. He jumped right over Max and grabbed a stick that was laying on the ground, picking up with his original plan. "Take that you big bully!" Mowgli said as he whopped the tiger's head.

"Let em' have it kid! Give it to him again!!" Flaps cried happily from the tree.

Suddenly Shere Khan jumped away from the action, bringing Baloo along for the ride. "I've had quite enough of his nonsense," the tiger said. "How about we just finish this?"

Suddenly, all around Shere Khan...

"HEARTLESS!!!" Sora and Max cried in unison.

"Indeed, Heartless," Shere Khan laughed. "What a wonderful power this is: the power of Darkness!!"

"Yo, Khan, do ya think you could call of the weird monkey things? For old time's sake?" Baloo asked as he eyed the Power-wilds and Bouncy-wilds that had appeared all around him.

"Please shut up," Shere Khan said as he made a simple paw signal. The Heartless jumped onto Baloo, covering him from head to toe.

"BALOO!!!" Mowgli cried.

"Someone do something about that kid!!" Baloo cried through the Darkness. The tiger had started towards Mowgli again.

"Come on lads, they need our help!!" Flaps cried. All the vultures jumped down from the tree and swooped towards the battle.

"Split up! You two, help the bear. Flaps and me 'll get the kid!!" the third vulture said. The group split up in two directions. Two of them lifted Mowgli off the ground just before Shere Khan reached him.

Baloo threw off about ten of the Heartless only to have Shere Khan pounce on him. "You'll pay for this insolence!!"

"No! No! Baloo needs help!!" Mowgli yelled to his vulture friends. They were just about to land on the tree when...

Zap! BBBBOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!

The tree was struck by lightning.

And now branches covered with fire were falling everywhere.

"Fire! That's the only thing old stripes is afraid of!!" the third vulture said.

"You get the fire, we'll do the rest!" Flaps said. The two flew over to Shere Khan, the Heartless, and Baloo.

Mowgli grabbed a huge flaming stick and charged towards Shere Khan.

Baloo fell. He was bleeding in about ten places, cuts and gashes all over his body.

"CHARGE!!!" the vultures yelled as the swooped in, taking out Heartless and clawing at Shere Khan.

Max and Sora were about to join the fray when Sora spotted something. More aptly, someone. "Kairi!!!" He and Max charged over to the tree behind which the girl was hiding.

"Sora! Don't come to close! I'm human!"

"I'll just change you back," Sora said, coming to a halt and zapping Kairi. "Hey.... sorry about what I said back there."

"It's..... I guess it's okay," Kairi replied as she changed back into a jaguar. "I... I just had dreams last night about...." she looked at Max, then looked at Sora. "_It_."

Sora nodded in understanding. "Kairi, I really didn't mean to-"

"No, Sora, I'm sorry. I just felt really weird." She looked down at herself. "I still feel kind of weird."

Deep inside her, the Darkness smiled.

The vultures had Shere Khan's focus, and they had eliminated the remainder of the Heartless. "Stay out of this, you feather-brained birds!!"

"Hey stripes," the fourth said. "Look behind you."

The tiger whipped around... to see a flaming stick tied to his tail.

Shere Khan let out a frightened roar and every thought of fighting was gone. He ran off into the distance, the stick pulled along behind him.

"Wait.... fire was all we needed to beat that looser?" Kairi asked.

"Aw, crap....." Sora said in cold realization. He could have just shot a few fireballs at the cat to make him run!

"Sora.... It gets worse." Max lifted a paw and pointed to something. The body of Baloo. And Mowgli was standing over it.

"Baloo?" Mowgli asked, dropping to his knees next to the bear's head. "Baloo, please get up..." The boy tugged on the bear's fur. "Oh, Baloo...."

"A tragedy..." Our three off-world-heros spun to see Bagheera.

"Where have you been?" Max asked. "You were right behind me!"

"Quicksand," Bagheera said absentmindedly. He walked over to Mowgli. "Mowgli.... try to understand."

"Bagheera, what's the matter with him?"

"Come now Mowgli, you've got to be brave. Like Baloo was," Bagheera said.

"Was?" Mowgli asked. "You don't mean.... oh-no...."

The vultures watched from a nearby tree as the scene continued to unfold. Sora, Kairi and Max just stood there, not feeling it was their place to help.

"Now, now," began Bagheera. "I know how you feel. But you must remember Mowgli, that greater love hath no one for he who lays his life down for a friend...."

Suddenly, Baloo moved. Only Sora, Kairi and Max noticed it. Sora was about to say something when Max shushed him. "Bagheera is going to give a speech about how brave and wonderful Baloo is. You really want to miss this?"

Sora looked thoughtful before saying. "Let's watch."

"I wish we had some popcorn," Kairi muttered.

"When great deeds are remembered in this jungle," Bagheera continued as he and Mowgli walked a few feet away from the 'body'. Baloo's eyes were now open. "One name will stand above all others," Bagheera paused. If he had been anyone else, it might have been for dramatic effect. "Our friend Baloo the bear."

Our heroes saw Baloo sniffle a bit, as though he was going to cry. "He's crackn' me up..."

"The memory of Baloo's bravery and sacrifice will be forever engraved on our saddened Hearts."

"Aw, yeah....." Baloo muttered. "Beautiful."

"This spot where Baloo fell shall always be a hallowed place in the jungle..." Bagheera carried on.

"You were right, this is worth watching," Sora grinned.

"... For there lies one of nature's noblest creatures."

"We need popcorn," Kairi moaned.

"I wish my mother could have heard this," Baloo sobbed.

"It's best we leave now," Bagheera said.

He and Mowgli started to walk off when they heard a voice call. "Hey, don't stop now Baggy! You're doing great!! There's more, lots more!!!"

"Well, the gig's up," Sora sighed.

"WHY, YOU BIG FAT FRAUD YOU!!!!!!" Bagheera cried.

**Later, in another part of the jungle...**

"Hey, baggy!" Baloo laughed as the group slowly walked in a seemingly random direction. "You should have seen how I made a sucker out of old stripe face! How I hit him with my left and swung with my right and-!"

"Hey.... what's that?" Sora asked, cutting the bear off. The group looked forward to see a bunch of man-made huts clustered together.

"Yeah, what is that?" Mowgli asked.

"The man village," Bagheera answered.

"No, no, I mean that!"

Everyone followed Mowgli's finger to see it; a girl cub walking down to the river outside of the man village to get water.

"Forget about those, they're nothing but trouble," Baloo said.

"I should know," Sora said, giving Kairi a joking look. She gave _him_ look that said 'If I was Queen and not Princess it would be off with your head.'.

"Just give me a second," Mowgli said. "I've never seen one of those before."

"Now you've seen one," Baloo said with an urgent as his man cub friend ran off. "Let's go!"

"I'll be right back," Mowgli said as he approached the river. "I want a better look."

"Ah, young love," Max said knowingly. Sora and Kairi shot him dagger eyes.

"Mowgli, come back!" Baloo called.

"Oh, Baloo. Let him have a better look," Bagheera said cheekily.

Mowgli climbed into a tree and looked down at the girl from above. She was singing a mysterious tune that seemed to draw him in, but Sora, Kairi and Max knew what she was saying.

"_Father's hunting in the forest, Mother's cooking in the home, and I must go to fetch the water, till the day that I am grown."_

"_Till I'm grown."_

"_Till I'm grown."_

"_I must go to fetch the water..."_

"_Till the day that I am grown."_

She had seen Mowgli's reflection in the water. She looked up at the man cub in the tree above her.

She smiled at him and batted her eyelashes a few times.

"It's like she's trying to get him to come over!" Sora exclaimed. "Like some sort of weird enchantress..."

Suddenly the branch Mowgli was using for support snapped and Mowgli fell into the water right in front of the girl. He looked up and their eyes met. Then Mowgli scrambled out of the river and onto drier land, where he promptly hid behind some shrubs.

The girl shrugged and decided to forget about the boy.

"_More like try harder to draw him in,"_ Baloo thought.

"_And I will have a handsome husband, and a daughter of my own."_

"_And I'll send her to fetch the water."_

"_I'll be cooking in the home."_

Mowgli risked another peak at the girl. She saw him and giggled at his face. He was mesmerized by her.

The girl, having retrieved the water, stood and put the pot on her head. She started to walk back to the man village when the pot fell off of her head. "Oh!" Water sloshed out of it as it rolled all the way back to the river.

"She did that on purpose!!" Baloo cried.

"Clearly," Bagheera replied with a smile.

Mowgli crossed the river, still unable to look away from the girl, and picked up the dropped water pitcher. He quickly filled it with water and held it up to the girl.

She just smiled and turned back towards the man village, humming her song.

Mowgli was confused. Didn't she want her pot?

He looked to his friends.

"Come back," Baloo called quietly. "Mowgli, come back!!"

"Go on," Bagheera urged, unable to hide a smile at the fact that Mowgli was about to willingly enter the very place he had been dreading. "Go on."

"Yeah, so our job will be over," Max added. "I've just about had enough of this insane mission."

Mowgli followed the girl, pot in hand, right up to the gate of the man village.

Twinkle.

"You just saw the pot twinkle, right?" Sora asked Kairi.

"Yeah... I suppose," she answered.

In a split second Sora's Keyblade was in his mouth. The light from the girl's pot shot into the sky and revealed a gate seal.

Suddenly Sora stood in the world's core, the seal hovering overhead. A beam of light shot out of the Keyblade, unlocking the new gate.

Suddenly, Sora was back, and Mowgli was holding the pot. The man cub just shrugged and gave a weak grin before walking into the village after the girl.

"He's hooked," Baloo said, shocked.

"It was inevitable Baloo," Bagheera said, putting a paw on the bear's shoulder. "The boy couldn't help himself. It was bound to happen!"

"And it means our work is done," Max said, breathing a sigh of releaf. "I think I was about to go crazy... elephants, monkeys and tigers..."

"Oh my!" Sora cried jokingly.

"But Mowgli is where he belongs now, Baloo," Kairi told the bear.

"Yeah... yeah, I guess you're right," Baloo said. "But I still think he would have made one swell bear."

"Come on guys," Sora smiled. "Let's get back where _we_ belong."

"See you guys some other time!" Baloo called after them.

"Stop by every now and then!" Bagheera instructed.

"Will do!" Max replied. "Near the wolf cave, alright?"

"Most definitely," Bagheera answered.

"See ya later Baggy!!" Sora called.

Bagheera waited until the three were out of sight behind the trees before he scowled and looked a Baloo. "You've gotten to him too..."

"Aw, come on Baggy!" Baloo said happily. "Let's get back where _we_ belong!" The bear started to walk away before Baloo said, "Oh, and get with the beat."

"Eh?"

"You just gotta look for the:

"_Bare Necessities, the simple Bare Necessities, forget about your worries and your strife. I mean the… Bare Necessities! Old Mother Nature's recipes! That bring the Bare Necessities to life!_"

**And that's that. Hope you enjoyed it.**

**While we will not return to this world, Kaa is yet to hypnotize his last victim. As he is a member of the Hellfire Club (Maleficent's group), we will be seeing him again.**

**Oh, and I don't own the girl (dubbed Shanti in The Jungle Book Two), or the vultures (or the Beatles for that matter).**

**When Baloo says to Shere Khan that he should call off the Heartless for 'old time's sake,' this is a reference to the fact that the two were friends when they were younger. See TV series 'Jungle Cubs'. (Which I do not own)**


	11. Start Your Pods!

**Back to Riku and Yuffie.**

**Chapter 11: Start... Your.... Pods!!**

**About twenty minutes after we left our heroes...**

The group walked through the streets, covering their eyes to protect them from the sand. Yuffie's belly was cut and bleeding a little in several places from the flying particles, and Qui-Gon had lent her his poncho.

Soon they reached a small house which Anakin motioned to. The group walked through a door which opened automatically, and then closed behind them.

"Anne? Anne, is that you? I told you to get home before now!"

A woman in her late early forties walked into the entrance hall. She stopped short as she noticed the strangers. "Anne? Who are these people?"

"These are my friends mom!" Anakin said happily.

"My name is Qui-Gon Jinn," Qui-Gon said, stepping forward. "Your son was kind enough to offer us shelter." He pointed to his companions. "That is Padme, and this is Jar-Jar Binks."

"I'm Riku and this is Yuffie," Riku walked up, gesturing to himself and Yuffie respectively.

"_Ahem_."

"No, I'm not doing the introduction."

"Mesa 'll do it!" Jar Jar said. "Mesa be introducing the Great..."

Yuffie was standing on the ceiling.

"Ninja..."

She was doing a handstand on Anakin's head.

"Yuffie!!"

She appeared in the middle of the hall and threw her ninja stars again, which this time whizzed around all over the place before exploding like firecrackers.

No one did anything.

"Yousa be trying to contain your enthusiasm."

**A bit later...**

Anakin was showing Padme, Yuffie and the trash can robot (which was called R2-D2) a 'protocol droid' he had created. Yuffie had to admit, it looked really complex.

"So, how thick was the instruction manual for this thing?" Yuffie asked.

"There was no manual. I built him out of spare parts," Anakin explained.

Wow. There's a smart kid for ya'!

"He's called C-3PO. Made him to help mom out at home," Anakin pressed a button, and the droid's 'eyes' lit up.

"Oh, my circuits!" he said as he sat up. He moved just like a normal human would, but just a little bit jerky. Yuffie would have been convinced... if all his internal parts hadn't been showing. "Oh! Who are you? I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations. How might I be of service?"

"He's perfect," Padme said with a little laugh.

"Oh my!" the robot said as he stood up from the platform where he had been siting. "I don't believe we have been introduced." He walked over to R2-D2. "I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations. Who are you?"

R2 made some strange beeping and whistling noises.

"R2-D2?" the droid asked. "Ah, it is a pleasure to meet you. But... what do you mean by... naked?"

R2 made more noises.

"My parts are showing! Oh, my goodness!!"

Yuffie and Padme laughed.

**That night, at dinner...**

The group had sat down at a small table in the kitchen and were having a hard time finding space for everyone to fit at a table that seemed to be made for four. Anakin started talking non-stop once they sat down, and Riku was surprised to learn that what he had to say was actually very intelligently spoken and interesting to listen to.

"They put a tracker somewhere in every slave's body, but they don't tell you were it is," Anakin continued. "One attempt to escape and they blow you up!"

"How rude," Jar-Jar said.

"I've been trying to build a scanner to find mine," Anakin said. "It's not quite finished yet."

The boy stopped and looked at Qui-Gon. "You're a Jedi aren't you?"

Riku and Yuffie looked at each other. _'Jedi'_?

"What makes you say that?" Qui-Gon asked.

"I saw your laser sword," Anakin replied. "Only Jedi carry those."

"Suppose I killed a Jedi and took it from him," Qui-Gon suggested as Jar-Jar used his overly long tongue to snatch up some fruits from the other side of the table.

"No way," Anakin declared. "No one can kill a Jedi."

Qui-Gon chuckled. "I wish that were true."

"I had a dream I was a Jedi once," Anakin said. "I came back here and freed all the slaves."

There was silance for a moment. The the boy continued. "Are you here to free us?"

"I'm afraid not," Qui-Gon said.

"We come from the planet of Naboo," Padme stepped in. "The Trade Federation stormed the capital there. We... that is, Qui-Gon, the Queen of Naboo, a few guards, and the Queen's handmaidens... I being one of them... escaped the planet. We were on our way to Coruscant, the Galactic Republic capital when we had to land here. Our ship is in need of repair, but our currency isn't accepted here."

"Quite the plight," Yuffie said.

"What about you two?" Shmi asked. "What's your story?"

"Well, I'm not even exactly sure," Riku replied. "We were being chased by... pirates..." he lied again, "... when we flew through a worm hole to escape. When we came out, we were here. We've never seen a world quite like this, and we certainly don't have any cash that will be accepted."

"Watto doesn't even carry the parts we need anyway," Yuffie added.

"He doesn't?" Shmi asked.

"They said their ship is a 'gummi' class, mom," Anakin explained.

"I've never heard of that," Shmi said thoughtfully.

There was silence again for a bit. Jar-Jar tried to reach another fruit, but Qui-Gon grabbed his tongue out of mid-lunge.

"Don't do that again," Qui-Gon ordered as he relinquished the tongue.

"Have you ever seen a pod race?" Anakin asked.

Everyone at the table but Shmi and Qui-Gon shook their heads.

"I've seen a few races before," Qui-Gon replied. "Very fast. Very dangerous."

"I'm the only human that can do it," Anakin said proudly.

"You must have Jedi reflexes if you can race a pod," Qui-Gon said.

Riku and Yuffie groaned quietly enough that the others didn't hear them. 'Jedi' again.

"You know, I could try and fix your ships," Anakin said, abruptly changing the subject. "I can fix anything!"

"I believe you can," Qui-Gon laughed. "But first we need the right parts."

"And we ain't got nothing to trade," Jar-Jar added.

"Don't these junk dealers have a weakness of some kind?" Riku asked.

"Gambling," Shmi said. "Everything around here relies on those terrible races."

"Pod racing," Qui-Gon muttered. "Greed can be a very powerful ally."

"I built a racer," Anakin said. "It's the fastest ever! There's a big race tomorrow. You could enter my pod!"

"Anakin!" Shmi cried. "Watto will not let you!"

"Watto doesn't know I built it!" he continued, now turning to Qui-Gon. "You could make him think it's yours, then get me to pilot it for you!"

"I don't want you to race. It's awful. I die every time Watto makes you do it."

Riku and Yuffie looked at each other wide eyed. Watto_ made_ him?

"But mom, I love it!" he said. "The prize money would be more than what they need."

"Anakin..." Shmi started.

"You're mother is right," Qui-Gon interrupted. "Isn't there anyone out here who is friendly to the Republic who can help us?"

Shmi sighed. "No."

"Mom, you always say the biggest problem in the universe is that no one helps each other."

More silence.

"We don't want to put Anakin in danger," Riku said. "We'll find some other way."

"No," Shmi said. "There is no other way." She sighed again. "I may not like it, but... he can help you. He was meant to."

**The next day...**

Yuffie had headed out to get P.J.. Deciding that the ship was no good until they found a way to return to their own Galaxy, they were going to digitize the Mabrik and store it in a computer until they got their hands on a warp drive. In the mean time, these strange people's hospitality would have to hold out.

Qui-Gon, Riku, Padme, Jar-Jar, and R2-D2 worked their way through the city until they reached Watto's Junk Shop. Anakin had left at four in the morning to get to work.

"Are you sure about this?" Padme asked as they reached the door. "Trusting our fate to a boy we hardly know? The Queen will not approve."

"The Queen doesn't need to know," Qui-Gon said as he walked into the shop, tailed only by Riku.

"Well, I don't approve," Padme said darkly.

Instantly Watto was up in Qui-Gon's face. "The boy tells me you want to sponsor him in the race? How do you intend to do this without any money?" He noticed Riku. "He doesn't have any money either, you know."

"My ship will be my entry fee," Qui-Gon replied, ignoring the junk dealer's comment. He drew a small disk, similar, Riku noted, to the kind he had seen Stormtroopers using on Disney Castle. A holographic ship appeared, looking very sleek and aerodynamic. "It is in good order, minus the parts I need," Qui-Gon said, putting the disk away.

"But what will the boy ride?" Watto asked. "He smashed up my pod in the last race! Should take some long time to fix it, huh?"

"It's not my fault! Really!" Anakin protested. "Sabulba flashed me with his vents! I actually saved the pod... mostly."

"That you did, that you did," Watto chuckled. "The boy is good, no doubts there..."

"I have aquired a pod in a game of chance," Qui-Gon explained. "Fastest ever built."

"I hope you didn't kill anyone I know for it," Watto said. "So! You supply the pod and the entry fee... I supply the boy... we split the winnings... uh... fifty-fifty, eh?"

"If it's going to be fifty-fifty I suggest you supply the entry fee," Qui-Gon replied. Watto gave him a questioning look. "If we win, you keep all the prize money minus the parts I need... If we lose, you keep my ship." Qui-Gon paused.

"Either way, you win," Riku said.

"Deal!" Watto cried, slapping his hand into Qui-Gon's. They shook briefly, then the Jedi and Riku turned and walked out of the shop.

"Your friends are more foolish than I thought," Watto said, turning to Anakin. The boy crossed his arms and frowned at his owner.

**Out in the deserts...**

Yuffie marched up to the Mabrik, where P.J. was waiting. He was sitting on a beach chair near the entry ramp, getting a tan.

"P.J.," Yuffie said, trying to get his attention. No such luck. "P.J.!!!"

"Aaahggg!" he yelped as he flailed out of the chair. He got to his feet and looked at Yuffie. "Where have you been? Where's Riku?"

"I'll explain later, P.J.," Yuffie said. "Right now Riku wants us to digitize the Mabrik."

"Digitize?"

"We're gonna store it in a computer until we get somewhere where we can pick up a warp drive.

"Why can't we get one here?" P.J. asked.

"It appears that we have traveled to another galaxy," Yuffie replied. "Our currency is not accepted here, and there aren't any shops that carry gummi blocks."

"Why don't you just pick-pocket some people?" P.J. asked. "You're some kind of ninja, right?"

Suddenly Yuffie was at his neck with a ninja star. "I'm not some kind of ninja. I'm the _best there is._"

"Note taken."

**Back in the city...**

Qui-Gon was standing atop Shmi's house, watching as Anakin, Riku, Padme, Jar-Jar, C-3PO, and R2-D2 work on Anakin's pod. Qui-Gon was talking into his communication device when Shmi walked out to join him. The man turned off the device, his conversation being over, and put it back in his poncho.

"You should be very proud of your son," Qui-Gon said. "He gives without any thought of reward."

"He knows nothing of greed," Shmi replied. "He has a..."

"He has special powers," Qui-Gon finished. Shmi nodded. "He can see things before they happen. Most likely way he has such quick reflexes. It's a Jedi trait." Qui-Gon paused. "If he were born in the Republic he would have been identified at an earlier age. He is unusually strong with the Force, that much is clear. Who was his father?"

Shmi seemed reluctant to answer, but then she said, "There was no father. I carried him, I gave birth, I raised him... I can't explain what happened. Will you help him?"

"I don't know," the man replied. "I didn't actually come here to free slaves."

Meanwhile, the group down at the foot of the house toiled continually with the large construction. 'Pod' racing, as Padme and Riku soon discovered, was to large engines towing a pod holding the rider. The rider controlled the direction of the craft by opening and closing flaps on the sides of the engines. An energy beam of sorts connected the engines and prevented them from flying off in totally different directions. It seemed extremely dangerous to Padme and Riku, just as Qui-Gon had said at dinner last night, but Anakin didn't seem to think of the danger.

Anakin plugged a long cord into the side of his pod, then cried, "Hey Jar-Jar!"

"Huh?" the creature asked. He was working on something in-between the to engines, very close to the power cupping.

"Better stay away from that power cupping. If you get your hand caught in it it's gonna go numb for hours."

"Okay!" Jar-Jar shouted back, then noticed that he had dropped his wrench. He carefully lowered himself, not touching the beam, and grabbed his tool. He stood up again... and his head went right through the cupping. Jar-Jar stood up, then realized something wasn't right. "Er.... my tongue is numb," he tried to say, but it came out as "Leup... my toonge is noob... my tunge." Padme quickly escorted him away.

"I find that Jar-Jar creature quite a bit odd. Don't you?" C-3PO asked R2. The smaller droid made beeping and whistling noises in agreement.

"Okay, time for a test run," Anakin said, hopping into his pod.

Qui-Gon walked over. "Use this power charge to get a jump start," he instructed.

"Yes sir!" Anakin said happily, plugging in the device.

Everyone cleared out of the way as Anakin flipped some switches. Slowly, his engines started running. They lifted slightly off the ground, hovering as they increased power.

Anakin checked his readouts. All clear!

"It's working!" he cried "It's working!!"

From the roof of her house, Shmi smiled.

**That night...**

Anakin and Qui-Gon sat out under the starry night sky. They were on a small balcony jutting out from Anakin's house. Qui-Gon was applying some sort of medicine to a cut on Anakin's arm.

"There are so many! Do they all have a system of worlds?" Anakin asked, gazing up into space.

"Most of them," the man replied.

"Has anyone been to them all?"

"Not very likely," Qui-Gon chuckled.

"I'm gonna be the first one to see them all, then!" Anakin said happily.

Qui-Gon took a small needle and sucked up a blood sample from Anakin's cut.

"What's that for?" the boy asked.

"I'm going to check you blood for infections," Qui-Gon answered.

"Anne? Anne, it's time for bed," Shmi said from inside the house.

"Go ahead, you've got a big day tomorrow," Qui-Gon said to Anakin, who quickly ran inside the house.

Qui-Gon waited for a moment before putting the blood sample into a small device of sorts, and then stuck that into his communication device.

"Obi-Wan," he said. "I need a midi-chlorian count on the blood sample I'm about to send you."

"_Hold on just a moment,"_ a voice on the other side replied.

There was silence again before the voice said, _"The reading is off the chart. Over twenty-thousand. I don't think even Master Yoda has a count that high." _

"No Jedi does," Qui-Gon replied thoughtfully.

"_What does that mean?"_

"... I'm not sure." Qui-Gon cut the communication and looked up. Riku and Shmi were standing in the door. The two looked at Qui-Gon, then each other, then walked back into the house.

**The next day...**

It was the day of the big race. It seemed that everyone in the city was attending, and even a few people from other worlds had come. Qui-Gon, Jar-Jar, Riku and Watto were walking through a huge garadge holding the contestant's pods.

"I want to see your ship the moment the race is over!" Watto said angrily.

"Patience, my fine friend," Qui-Gon said. "You will have your winnings before sunset. And I shall be far away from here."

"Not if your ship belongs to me, I think, ah? I warn you, no funny business!"

"You don't think Anakin can do it?" Riku asked.

"Don't get me wrong kid, I've got great faith in the boy. He is a credit to your race. But... Subulba there is going to win, I think..." he said as he pointed to non other than the alien Jar-Jar had scuffled with the other day. He was sitting in front of a large, professionally built pod racer as several female aliens massaged him.

"Oh no!" Jar-Jar cried.

"What makes you say he will win?" Qui-Gon asked.

"He always wins!" the junk dealer said happily. "I am betting heavily on Subulba!"

"I'll take that bet," Riku said.

"Eh?" Watto grunted, looking at Riku.

"We'll wager our pod for.... Anakin and his mom," Riku replied. He looked at Qui-Gon, who discretely nodded in approval.

"No pod is worth two slaves! Not by a long shot!" the alien cried angrily.

"The boy then," Riku said.

"Er.... well...." He stopped. "How about we let fate decide, eh?" He reached into the pouch hanging around his shoulder and pulled out a small cube, each side either blue or red. "I just happen to have a chance cube with me. Blue... the boy.... red..... his mother."

He tossed the cube onto the ground. It rolled along until Riku could see it was slowing up. It was going to stop on red.

Out the corner of Riku's eye, he saw Qui-Gon raise a hand.

The cube seemed to be pushed an extra inch by some invisible force, and landed on blue.

Jar-Jar, though surprised and confused, smiled a Watto in a 'It's just a game' sort of way.

Watto just scowled. "You may have won the small toss, outlander, but you aren't gonna win the race, so it makes little difference!!!"

Watto flapped off as Anakin, Padme, Shmi and Anakin's friend Kitster rode into the garage on yet another breed of strange alien.

The group dismounted as Kitster said to Anakin, "This is so wizard Anne! I'm sure you'll do it this time!"

"Do what?" Padme asked.

"Finish the race of course," Kitster answered.

"You've never won a race?" she asked worriedly. "Never even finished?"

"Well... not exactly..." Anakin replied.

"What do you mean by that?" Riku asked as he joined the conversation.

"You see, what was left of one of Watto's pods slid across the finish-line once."

Inwardly, Riku smiled. This was his kind of sport.

"But Kitster is right, I'll do it this time," Anakin smiled.

"Of course you will," Qui-Gon smiled. The group looked up as R2-D2 and C-3PO approached with Anakin's pod in tow.

R2 made a few beeping noises to which C-3PO replied. "Space travel sounds quite dangerous. I can assure you they will never get me on one of those dreadful star cruisers."

Suddenly a loud bell rang out. "That's our cue," Riku said. "Let's get your pod into position."

R2, hooked onto the pod, dragged it out into the middle of a huge arena, with exits on either side. Other pods were already getting set up. Announcers in a tower far above them were calling the individual names of the contestants. Eventually the got to Subulba. A thunderous roar went up at his name. And then...

"And a late entry, the young Anakin Skywalker, a local boy!" Surprisingly, there was still applause at Anakin's name. He must have gained a reputation in his previous races.

Subulba walked over to Anakin's pod. On the way, he paused next to a component that stuck slightly out of the pod. Subulba grabbed it and jerked it hard so that it was only hanging on by a few wires. "Uh-oh..." he chuckled as he continued to Anakin himself.

The dug said something in the language he and Anakin both understood. Anakin replied, his tone sounding angry and sarcastic. Subulba said something in a similar fashion before laughing and walking off.

"Are we ready to go, Anakin?" Qui-Gon said as he approached the pod.

"Definitely," Anakin replied as Qui-Gon lifted him up into his seat.

"You need to focus on the moment," Qui-Gon said. "Feel, don't think. Use your instincts."

"I will," Anakin smiled.

"May the Force be with you," the man said before he turned and walked off the track.

Meanwhile, Riku was waiting with the rest of the group when he heard noise coming from the garage.

"I swear, I know Anakin! I know him! Let me through!!"

"Who was that?" Padme asked, looking to the garage.

"I said, stand aside!! By order of the Great Ninja Yuffie!!... Alright, you asked for it!!"

Suddenly three limp guards were thrown out onto the ground near the edge of the track. Yuffie and P.J. walked out behind them.

"What took you guys so long?" Riku asked.

"Besides those stupid security guards? P.J. had to stop to take a whiz at a public bathroom and he got mugged."

"At least I gave you the hard drive before I went in," P.J. said. He was sporting a black eye and one chipped tooth.

"Well, the race is about to start," Riku said. "You guys barley made it in time." He gestured to the pods. "P.J., I'll introduce you to the gang before the race starts."

The group walked onto a circular platform fashioned around a tall beam. The platform started to rise into the air to give them a better view of the race.

The announcers suddenly cried, "And now, presenting the honorable Jabba the Hutt!!"

Up in a high tower on the edge of the stadium, a huge slug-like alien inched it's way to edge of it's platform where it could be easily seen. He started speaking in the same language Anakin, Sebulba and Watto all used. It could be assumed that he said something along, "Welcome. Let the race begin!" because at that moment, all the pods' power couplings activated and their engines roared to life.

Anakin adjusted the goggles that hung from his helmet. He flipped a few switches and checked his readings. He was all clear. He smiled as he took hold of his controls.

Jabba took a bite out of a small animal and chewed for a short moment before spitting it out onto a gong. A light about the track flashed, indicating that the first lap was started. The pods accelerated instantly and shot out of the arena. The race was on!

**I'm going to make the entire Star Wars: Episode 1 last throughout the story. To do this, I'm going to have to complete at least one or two worlds with Sora and the gang before returning for a chapter or two with Riku, Yuffie, P.J., and the others.**


	12. Incident at the F W C C: Part 1

**Sorry for the delay on this chapter. I still couldn't finish the Episode 1 chapter, so I'll come back to that later.**

**Chapter 12: Incident at the Foreign World Control Center: Part 1**

Kaa hissed angrily as he slithered around in circles in his den. Maleficent had brought him here after she had discovered that Kairi had escaped him. Kaa still wasn't quite sure how she had found out; he often had the impression that she could read minds.

It wasn't that Kaa was unhappy about getting out of the jungle. After all, that place could get pretty boring after a while. Plus, Maleficent was bound to give him a mission soon, and that meant more humans to hypnotize.

"Though it isss too bad that that one little man-cub eluded me..." Kaa said to himself. "He would have been essspecccially tasssty..."

"Kaa! Maleficent wants to see you!"

Kaa sighed. It was Pete. Why did Maleficent let that oaf onboard anyway?

"What doesss ssshe want?" Kaa snapped, spinning around to look at him. Pete covered his eyes out of instinct. Kaa had already hypnotized him three times since he got here, once right in front of Maleficent. She had taken it more as entertainment than anything.

"Er... big top secret villain meeting," Pete said timidly, still covering his eyes. Kaa slithered to the door, giving a threatening hiss to Pete on the way out, who dropped dead away in fear.

Kaa worked his way through the seemingly endless halls of The Castle That Never Was on his way to the Hall of Empty Melodies, which Maleficent always used for meetings.

Once he got there, he slithered up the the poll he usually wrapped himself around so that he could get onto the table. The room, while once bright and stark white, was now dark and grimy, thanks to Maleficent's touch of Darkness.

Most of the other people at the table were hidden in the shadows. A few, however, were relatively exposed. Kaa was able to distinguish Hades, Lord of the Dead, Captain Hook of the Jolly Roger, and someone else that had been a regular at these meetings...

"Hello, Maleficent," he said. "You look wonderfully Dark today."

"Good day to you, Sephiroth," Maleficent replied from the head of the table. "I'm glad you could join us."

"Cloud had done a good job of disappearing," Sephiroth replied, his silver hair looking rather out of place in the dark room. "I would say he is hiding from me, but I know him too well. More likely he his hiding from his friends... and the Light."

"Well, it's down to business," Maleficent said happily.

"Hold up a sec, Maleficent," Hades interrupted. "I'm not jumping aboard another one of your whirlwind tours unless I know it's going to succeed." He frowned. "And that we aren't all 'disposable factors' in your plan."

"I'm with hot-head," said a young voice in the shadows. "You haven't exactly got the best track record, lady."

"Agreed," Kaa added.

"Here here," a wicked female voice came in from the darkness.

Several of the other people at the table made sounds of agreement. Only Sephiroth hadn't said anything, but that was probably just because the look on his face spoke for him.

"Enough," Maleficent said angrily, bringing silence. "I have called this meeting to lay out the plan to you in the most intricate of detail."

Suddenly a half-transparent image appeared on the table. It was the Shera, rocketing through space.

"Sora and his friends are on this ship," Maleficent started. "Including Princess Kairi."

Few at the table seemed excessively interested in this information, but one did sit up a bit more in his chair and say, "Kairi actually accompanied Sora?"

"Indeed, my fair Chairman," Maleficent replied. "As did her bodyguard, that damned Jacob."

Much more excitement circulated around the table at this. "Jacob? The kid who went after Noir?" "Not him, no!!" "Maleficent, if you told me _he_ was with them, I wouldn't have even _considered_ joining you!!"

"SILENCE!!!!" Maleficent screamed. Instantly there was quiet again. "You do know what Jacob stole when he went up against Noir, don't you?"

The people around the table shook their heads.

"A very powerful artifact called 'Bliss of Heart'. While a great weapon for the Light..." she paused. "It is also one of the greatest tools of Darkness in existence."

"Bliss of Heart, in short, can control the levels of Darkness and Light in someone's Heart."

There was uproar. "Control Light and Dark?!? We could get rid of those pesky Princesses!!" "That's like endless Heartless!!!" "Does that mean that it could turn someone like _you_ into a good guy?!?"

It took a few minutes for the chatter to die down. When it did, Maleficent said, "I can't give you all the answers about this. However, I am sure you would like to ask the man who created the artifact... Noir."

A hush greater than could have possibly been achieved if everyone in the room had dropped dead was suddenly a reality. No one moved. No one spoke. The only sound was that of soft footsteps moving through the darkness towards the table. And suddenly, someone was stepping onto it.

The light revealed a handsome young man, most likely in his mid twenties. Wavy blond hair and dazzlingly blue eyes clashed strangely against the dark. He had fair skin, a few small, nearly unnoticeable scars, and was sporting a long, blood red cloak.

He looked around at the gathered villains. Nearly every one of them seemed to be cowering in their chairs (except Kaa; he was on a poll). Even Sephiroth looked a bit unnerved.

The man smiled and said, "My name is Noir. But, you probably already know that, since Maleficent introduced me." He paused for a moment. His hands were hidden inside his robes, but it could be seen that he was searching for something. He seemed to find it, and started to remove his hands from his cloak. When they emerged, one hand was holding a small leather pouch. "If all of you would be so kind as to not interrupt as I continue," he said, still smiling. He needn't have asked; it looked as though half the villains were going to wet themselves.

The man opened the pouch and reached inside. He pulled out a small amount of a powder-ish substance, and dropped it onto the table. He closed the bag and put it back inside his cloak.

From the spot where the powder had fallen, slowly there emerged a ghostly image of Radiant Garden. But not the Radiant Garden of today. It was what the city had looked like before the rise of the Heartless eleven years ago. It was built of tall skyscrapers, monorail systems, and even a few buildings that hovered in the air. The arid ground that was outside the city was instead a lush forest, and the Great Maw a lake. The Citadel rose even higher than the other buildings, the Heartless emblem missing and a color of magnificent silver, just like all the other buildings in the city.

The image slowly magnified upon the Citadel, making it larger and larger until some of it disappeared. It seemed that Noir wanted to show something specific. Eventually they reached it; a small balcony on which stood a young woman with shocking red hair and a beautiful royal gown of white. In her arms was a small baby girl, who was sound asleep. The woman smiled at her daughter and looked out upon the city, admiring the view and realizing just how beautiful Radiant Garden was.

"The Queen of Radiant Garden," Noir said. "And her newborn daughter, Princess Kairi."

The woman turned around and walked back into the room adjacent the balcony.

"A bit silly, really," Noir chuckled. "The King and Queen had no real power. Just figureheads. Ansem the Wise was the one who had power."

The picture changed, flashing away from the peaceful scene to a quite different one. Buildings were burning, people screaming, Heartless slashing through helpless children and armed men alike.

But Noir didn't linger here. The scene zoomed again to the balcony, where the same people stood. The Queen was older, as was Kairi, now the age of four. Both looked scared, but Kairi's face showed shock and bewilderment, whereas her mother's showed genuine fear and worry. She was rapidly scribbling on a small piece of paper, muttering as she did so. She finished, and turned to Kairi.

"Sweetheart, I want you to go. Go and hide in the special secret place we play in and don't come out until I come to get you," the Queen said.

"Mommy, what's wrong?" Kairi asked, her eyes open and confused.

"Nothing's wrong, honey, but I want you to hide. Alright?"

"Is everything gonna be okay?"

"Everything is going to be fine, sweetie."

"What about Jacob and Mister Ansem?"

"I don't know. But I don't want you to come out until I come to get you. Me or Daddy or King Mickey. Understand?"

Kairi nodded nervously and tootled off into the Citadel.

"Mickey..... I hope this reaches you..." the Queen said, clutching the paper to her chest. She muttered something under her breath, and she must have said something special, because suddenly, the letter disappeared into thin air.

Only a few seconds later, the doors to the balcony burst open and three Neoshadows walked out, followed closely by...

"Xehanort," the Queen scowled, not turning. "Why?"

"It isn't Xehanort any more," the Heartless said. "I have decided to call myself Ansem, after my foolish master."

"So, you think that using the name of someone who aspired to greatness will make you equally great?" the Queen asked, laughing. "You've much to learn."

"Ansem the 'Wise' was never great," Xehanort's Heartless drawled. "He has been driven from this world into the Realm of Nothingness by my Nobody and the Nobodys of my fellow apprentices."

"He'll never really be gone," the Queen said angrily, whirling on him. "Not as long as the people here remain loyal to him and his memory stays alive."

"That is why I am destroying everyone who could possibly remember him," Xehanort said. "The only life I shall spare is that of your charming daughter. Where might she be?"

"Go jump off a cliff."

Xehanort's Heartless only smiled. "You first." He gestured to the Neoshadows and walked into the Citadel. The sound of terrified screaming and tearing flesh was heard as he walked away to find the Princess.

"He found the girl, of course," Noir said, making the villains jump. They seemed to have forgotten that he was still there. "After he found her, he put her into an enchanted sleep, wiped her memory, and cast her out into the Realm of Darkness. He believed that, if she was a Princess of Heart, she would eventually escape to a place where she could be protected. In other words: On a world occupied by a Keybearer. She eventually turned up on the same world as future Keybearers Sora and Riku. The only hitch was, not only were they yet have Keyblades, they were only four and five years old. Xehanort had no way of identifying them."

The projection that had been coming from the powder disappeared. Noir looked around at the villains. "Jacob found her a few years later, and was convinced that she was under the protection of a Keybearer. Too bad he didn't stay around for a while. He left to come after me with his precious little girlfriend. And he may have weakened me and stolen Bliss of Heart, but I did something to him: I shattered his girlfriend's memory and returned her to her home world. He could see her, visit her in her sleep... but he couldn't be with her, and that was about the wort thing I could do to him. Take away what he loved most."

"Not only this, he could not approach Kairi, or risk severing the boundaries of the worlds. He lived a meaningless life on a world called Land of Liberty until he finally returned to the reconstructed Radiant Garden. And now, he is near Kairi once again, fighting Darkness. But unfortunately for him, Kairi doesn't trust him because of her lack of memories of him."

"Kairi doesn't trust him?" a villain asked.

"I believe that your organization is after Kairi, isn't it, sir?"

The villain stood. "I must prepare. Maleficent, if you would allow..."

"By all means, Chairman," Maleficent replied. "We will, of course, continue the meeting in your absence."

"Fair enough." The man stood from the table and walked away.

Noir shook his head in disapproval and continued his story.

**On the Shera, two days later...**

Jacob opened a drawer in this dresser. Inside was three knifes, an Uzi, two pistols, a tranquilizer gun, a kantana, and several clips of ammunition in the back corner. Jacob reached for two clips, put them on top of the dresser, pulled out the two pistols and loaded them, and shoved them into his back pockets. He closed the drawer, picked up a large suitcase, and walked out of his room, shutting the door behind him.

He walked down the hall of the ship, until he slowly broke into a jog. He nearly bumped into Cid. "Hey Cid, did Sora and Kairi already go down to the surface?"

"Yeah, why?"

But Jacob was already gone.

**On the surface of the new world...**

Sora and Kairi walked along the baron surface of the strange new world. The ground was a dull gray, and several craters could be seen just in the area near them. Max had stayed behind; he was still a bit weirded out from the visit to India.

"Who do you figure lives here?" Sora asked as he and Kairi started walking in a random direction.

"I don't know..." Kairi replied, looking around. "The place kinda creeps me out though..."

They walked for about ten minutes before they saw something on the horizon: a town. The two quickly worked their way over.

They soon discovered that the town was inhabited by beings that looked like humans... but they couldn't have been humans. Their skin was a soft shade of gray, and they had what looked like gils on the each side of their necks.

Most of the creatures left their homes to watch as Sora and Kairi approached. Soon, they were in the streets, still being followed by the creatures. Eventually they attracted such a crowd that it seemed there was a parade going on. But if it was a parade, it was the quietist ever. A few nervous whispers and the many footsteps seemed to be the only noise on this world.

Sora and Kairi soon realized that they were not leading this group, but instead were being ushered to a large, dome shaped building in the center of town. When they got closer, they saw a sign hanging over the huge glass doors at the entrance. It read: Foreign World Control Center.

Sora and Kairi looked nervously to each other. Were they going to be arrested or something?

"This is by far the strangest world I have ever been to," Sora muttered, looking around at the creatures.

"Really? I'd have though this kind of stuff was right up your ally," Kairi giggled at him.

Sora couldn't help but smiling, but not for long. Up the stairs to the dome were two more of the creatures, each in business suits of sorts. Each of them looked very formidable, with bulging muscles and eyes narrowed upon Sora and Kairi.

As soon as they actually reached the stairs, the crowd seemed to dissolve, giving them an opening. The two teens, somewhat reluctantly, walked up the stairs towards the men-things.

"Come with us," one of them grunted as Sora and Kairi reached them. His partner jerked his head towards the building. The four of them walked inside.

The interior of the dome was stark white, with half-circle hallways and automatically opening doors.

The men lead the way down a hall, and another, and another, through a door, up an elevator, down another hall, and into a small room. The room had black walls and almost no lights, forcing Sora and Kairi to close their eyes for a moment to adjust.

The men sat at a table, and Sora and Kairi did the same.

"Your names, please," one of the men said.

"Er..... Sora and Kairi."

"My name is Tishnyba," the man said. "My associate is called Nizora."

The other man grunted in recognition.

"Are.... we in trouble?" Kairi questioned.

"Why would you assume that?" Tishnyba asked.

"The sign above the door to this building said 'Foreign World Control Center'," Sora replied.

"Oh, you're not in trouble," Tishnyba smiled. "It's just that our people aren't very taking to off-world visitors, which we seem to get every other week."

"Right... so, do we have to leave?" Sora asked.

"Not at all, not at all," Tishnyba laughed. "You just need to stay here in this dome for a while, that's all. We just need to make sure that you two aren't dangerous and all that before we release you."

"How long are we going to have to stay here?" Kairi asked.

"Only a week or so." A beeping noise was heard. "Oh, excuse me, I've a call."

Tishnyba reached for a communication device on his belt and turned it on. "Hello?...... Yes, I've got them right here....... no, not yet......... they're only kids, boss, I.......... What? You sure about that?......... Okay, boss, I'll get right on it.......... Right. Right away." He turned the device off and strapped it onto his belt again.

"So, you two must be thirty," Tishnyba said.

"Er..... kind of," Kairi said. She supposed it would be polite to accept a drink anyway.

"Perfect. Nizora, if you would be so kind as to..."

The other man stood up and walked out of the room into the bright white hallway. He returned almost a moment later with four cups of some strange green liquid.

"Is that..." Sora started.

"Safe for humans? Oh, of course, perfectly safe. But if you did want a little bit of a better taste... Nizora, a little sugar for their drinks, I think."

The man grunted again and pulled a small packet seemingly out of nowhere and sprinkled a pinch of white crystals into two of the cups.

"So? Bottoms up!" Tishnyba said happily, handing Sora and Kairi two cups.

Reluctantly, the two took sips from the drink, but found that the liquid actually tasted very good. A bit like milk with a slight tangy aftertaste. The Sora and Kairi both took another deep drink from the cups. Tishnyba smiled and drank some of his drink too. Nizora just stood there.

"It's quite good, isn't it?" Tishnyba chuckled merrily as Sora and Kairi both drained the last of the liquid from the cups.

"Very good," Sora smiled. "Can we have some more?" Kairi smiled too, looking hopeful.

"I don't think you'll be in a position to drink them in a few moments," Tishnyba said.

Sora and Kairi exchanged puzzled looks.

"Allow me to explain," Tishnyba said. "Three..... two..... one....."

Suddenly, Sora and Kairi both slumped over in their chairs before sliding off onto the ground, fast asleep.

"You did put sleeping potion in, not poison, right?"

Nizora grunted again.

"Perfect," Tishnyba said happily. "I don't know why the boss wanted us to take these two captive though..."

The doors to the room opened, and a perfectly normal, human, non-alien man walked in with two floating stretchers following him. "Put them onto these," the man instructed.

Tishnyba and Nizora both lifted Sora and Kairi onto the stretchers.

"Not a word of this to anyone," the man said. "These two are going to the basement Lab. Maximum Security. I want you to tell everyone to be on the lookout for intruders. Their friends are bound to come after them soon." With that, the man turned and walked off down a hall, the stretchers floating off behind him.

**Uh-oh.**

**I own Tishnyba, Nizora, and the man who just walked in (who was the 'Chairman' at the meeting). I also own the species the aliens are. I'm sure something like them has appeared in comics or something, but if they have, I haven't seen them.**

**I also own Noir and Kairi's mother. Both will have major impact on the story.**

**I know that this chapter was a bit strange. Just bear with me please. I'll be posting again very shortly.**


	13. Incident at the F W C C: Part 2

**I wanted to post quickly to make up for my long silence. Here you go.**

**WARNING: This chapter contains nudity. (Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ack)**

**Chapter 13: Incident at the Foreign World Control Center: Part 2**

**I'm not doing the previously thing for 'Parts'. Read the last part if you don't know what happened.**

Kairi came to. Or did she? She wasn't quite sure.

The only indicator of this being consciousness was the fact that things were more solid, and Kairi could think more clearly. The only problem was, there wasn't anything to be solid and Kairi was having a hard time thinking.

Everything around her was black. It stretched out forever, it seemed. Kairi shook her head a bit, trying to wake herself up more.

What was the last thing she remembered? She didn't remember. That was a problem.

It was a new world.... she had had something to drink..... the rest was really hazy. She just couldn't think straight.

Kairi realized that she was lying down on something cold. She tried to move, but to no avail. She was too weak. She suddenly realized she was hungry. It felt like she hadn't eaten for weeks. Had she? She didn't know how long she had been sleeping in this black realm.

Kairi lifted an arm feebly. She reached out.... and felt something. A wall. A curved wall. It seemed to wrap all around her.

Kairi felt herself. Her whole body felt smooth; she must have been naked. That was why the floor had felt so cold.

But where was she? Perhaps it was the Dark Realm.

No, that couldn't be it. Sora had told her about this brief stay there. It was pitch black all around, but you could see yourself, and the energy wasn't wiped out of you.

Kairi was too tired to think. She wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep.... to rest.... to dream........

_"Kairi."_

The world around Kairi was suddenly filled with light. Kairi was standing in a field covered with wildflowers. In the distance, Kairi could see mountains toped with snow. She herself was wearing a white ceremonial gown that wouldn't have been out of place at a ball.

But Kairi hardly noticed any of this. Her head was turning rapidly, searching for where the voice was coming from. It was eerily familiar. And she knew.... somehow she knew.... that she might never hear it again. She had to find it's source, talk to it, and find out who it was.

_"Kairi."_

Kairi finally saw her. A woman with the same red hair as Kairi, the same dress and Kairi, and the same blue eyes as Kairi. The only difference was a taller, older, more mature body and a soft and sad smile.

_"I wanted to see you. Just one more time."_

The woman seemed to glide through the flowers towards Kairi._ "This has to be a dream,"_ Kairi though. _"Who is this woman?"_

The woman reached Kairi. _"Of course it's a dream Kairi,"_ the woman said. _"I though you liked dreaming?"_ She reached out and touched Kairi's cheek. _"You've grown so much."_

Kairi's eyes widened. "M-mom?"

The Queen of Radiant Garden looked down. _"Yes, Kairi."_

Suddenly, memories came flooding back. Radiant Garden. Jacob. Ansem the Wise. And....

"MOM!!!!!!!" Kairi threw her arms around her mother and gripped her tightly, afraid to let go. "Mom..... Mom, I though that..... the Heartless........ Xehanort said........"

_"Kairi...... I am dead."_

Kairi looked up into her mother's face, tears in her eyes. "No... You can't be!!"

_"Kairi, there's nothing you can do about it. I'm gone. But..... you're here."_

"What?"

Kairi's mother leaned over so that she was eye to eye with her daughter. _"I need you do something for me. I need you to.... well, after you liberate Radiant Garden, I need you to take over. You're the only _true_ Heir to the throne. I need you to take care of our world."_

"But... I'm just a kid...." Kairi said, letting go of her mother and taking a few steps back.

_"Kairi, you're more than ready. And if you every get stuck.... I'm sure Sora and Jacob will be able to help you."_

"Oh my God!! Jacob! I've been terrible to him! I've got to go and-"

_"Kairi, once you wake up, you aren't going to remember any of this.... and you will also lose the memories of your life on Radiant Garden that were revived."_

"What? Does that mean..... that I'll forget about you?" Kairi asked.

_"... Yes, Kairi, you will forget about me."_

"But..... but I don't want to forget about you! How am I supposed to remember what you asked me to do?"

_"Kairi, you may not remember me, but I'll still be in your Heart.... as will my request." _

Kairi looked deeply into her mother's eyes for a moment, wrapped her arms around her mother and continued the embrace. "Well, if I can't remember you.... can the dream at least last a bit longer?"

Kairi's mother laughed softly. _"The dream lasts until someone wakes you."_

Kairi buried her face in her mother's chest. "Let's hope I'm really tired."

**Meanwhile, in the real world...**

The Chairman sat in a.... well, chair..... while he looked at two tall green tubes that held the sleeping and naked forms of Sora and Kairi.

"Have you finished with the experiments yet?" the Chairman asked a man in a white coat angrily.

"Just about, sir," he replied. "Only the female has even regained consciousness. And that was only for a short period of time. We couldn't get satisfactory results."

"Listen, you," the Chairman said angrily. "I didn't capture these two for experimentations. I have my own business with them... the girl at least. If she comes out damaged in any way...."

"Of course not, sir!" the man said hastily. "We are only experimenting with how they will react to the environment they have been placed in. No harm will come to them."

Another man in a white coat walked over. "The female is dreaming," he reported. "Brain waves are haywire. It must be very detailed."

"Is there any sign of R.E.M.?" the first man asked.

"Rapid Eye Movement? Certainly. Her eyes are all over the place. Though they calmed down a moment ago..."

"I have had quite enough of your senseless experiments," the Chairman said angrily. "Awaken the girl, release her from her pod, put her on a stretcher, and throw a towel over her." He waited for a moment. "Do it NOW!!!!"

The men hastily scuttled off. They ran up to Kairi's tube and started pressing buttons on a computer next to it.

Slowly the tube slid upwards, and the men grabbed Kairi's sleeping body and laid it gently onto a floating stretcher. They threw a blanket over her nude form and pushed the stretcher to the Chairman. The Chairman stood from his.... chair..... and walked off, the stretcher floating behind him.

**In another dark room...**

Kairi opened her eyes.

She didn't know why, but waking up was... terrible. She must have been having a wonderful dream. What was it about?.... She didn't remember.

But she was awake now, and she definitely wasn't in the dark place from before. Though it was still dark, it was only a dimly lit room.

Kairi tried to move, but realized she was still too weak.

As the world came into focus around her, she noticed that she was still undressed, but covered by a blanket.

"Welcome back, Princess Kairi," a male voice said from the shadows.

Kairi couldn't move to see where the voice was coming from. "Who...... who's there?"

Soft laughter filled Kairi's ears. "I'm glad to finally see you again," the voice said, ignoring the question. "The last time I saw you..... you were only a few weeks old. Of course, I just saw you in an illusion... but you were only a few years older, I think..."

"I asked who's talking," Kairi tried to say angrily, but her voice was so weak that she could hardly even hear herself say it.

"I was hoping that those mad 'scientists' I have to work with wouldn't strip you down for their experiments," the man sighed. "I guess that even human beings are just test subjects to them. At least they aren't those weird alien things that live on the surface. Those guys are even worse."

Kairi mustered up her strength and said, "W... who are you?"

The man stepped closer so that Kairi could see him more clearly.

He had the same red hair as her.

"I'm your uncle, Kairi."

Kairi was, to say the least, extremely confused.

"You're my what?"

"Pay attention. I said that I'm your uncle." He reached for something in his pocket. "I'm afraid I don't have time to say anymore, because it seems that every time the villain monologs, more good guys rush in and save the day." He drew a pistol out of his pocket. "Good-bye, Kairi."

BAM!!!!!

Kairi.... was alive. That was a refreshing a surprise.

Her... uncle, if that was true.... was dead. Lying on the ground with a bullet hole in his forehead.

"Wow... I guess that's what they mean when they say 'opportune timing'. It's probably what they mean when they say 'cruel irony', too."

Kairi knew that voice. "Jacob?" she asked, still trying to take her voice beyond a whisper.

"The one and only," the boy said, stepping into Kairi's limited view. "Let me tell you right now that the ventilation in this place stinks. Don't they ever clean out those ducks?"

Jacob was covered in dust. His hair was practically gray, and he had taken his glasses off. His left hand held a smoking pistol, the other a large suitcase. Another pistol was shoved into his back pocket.

Jacob put the suit case on the floor and popped it open. "I didn't know what sort of experiments they would be performing on you while you were here," Jacob said as he started rummaging for something. "But they usually involve sucking all the strength out of you and stripping you down to the nude." He found whatever it was that he had been looking for. "Here, try and drink this." He pulled out a potion. "It'll make you feel better."

Kairi tried to take it from him, but she was too weak to move her arms much. "Alright then, open up," Jacob said. Kairi obediently opened her mouth and Jacob poured the liquid into it. Once the container was empty, Jacob said, "Go on, swallow."

The potion was the most foul tasting thing Kairi had ever had in her mouth, but she downed in anyway. She almost instantly felt a warmth spreading from throughout her, and it did indeed give her strength. Not much, but she felt like she could move.

"I've got some clothes for you," Jacob said. "Do you need me to help you get dressed?"

"No, thanks," Kairi said awkwardly.

"Whatever floats your boat, your majesty," Jacob said happily, facing away. "The clothes are sitting next to the suitcase. Can you get up?"

Kairi could; she pushed the blanket off and got to her feet. She reached for the clothes and started dressing herself. "How did you know-?"

"That you would be here? That you would need clothes?"

"I'd love to know both of those, actually." Kairi looked at the dead man on the floor. "Is he really my uncle?"

"Yes he is, Princess," Jacob replied. "But I'm going to save the explanations for later. Just finish getting those clothes on."

Kairi pulled on her white tank top again (with no bra underneath), underpants, and her jeans. "Do you know where my other clothes are?" Kairi asked.

"Does it really matter?"

"For me, no. For Sora, yes. His clothes are magic, and they give him a lot of his strength."

"Really? And here I was thinking that Sora was a super-hero all on his own. Heh. Show-biz phony."

"Stop it," Kairi said, but smiled in spite of herself.

"I should tell you that I've seen you naked plenty of times," Jacob said casually.

"I'm_ older_ now," Kairi rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but I saw you and Sora in these weird tube-things. You're both pretty hot."

"Jacob, shut up!" Kairi ordered, but a laugh mixed with it.

"Glad to see that your energy is back," Jacob said, turning to her. "Let's go and get Sora."

**Elsewhere...**

Sora didn't know what was happening. He seemed to be a phantom walking through someone's memory. But the memory was more like emotions than a memory; he felt love, joy, pain, loss... yet he didn't know why he was feeling the things that he was.

Slowly the blurred world he was walking through focused... on a sand covered world, parched under two scorching suns.

The land around he was completely, utterly, almost disturbingly empty; not a single thing was to be seen but endlessly shifting sands and the cloudless blue sky.

The suns rose and set quickly. So fast that weeks must have passed in seconds. And Sora felt as though those weeks had passed. He collapsed, hot, sweaty, and dying for a drink. He wanted to get off this world desperately. He had to. If he didn't, he was going to die.

There was someone approaching him. She was walking to fast to be real. Far too fast. There was someone else with her.

They kept coming. They reached him in the seconds that should have taken an hour. And suddenly, they slowed down.

One of them was a younger Jacob. His glasses were not cracked, his hair not quite as long, and his shoulders not quite as broad. It appeared as though he was about to collapse.

The girl next to him wasn't Kairi, but she had long red hair. It was more the shade of Kairi's at the age of fourteen; it wasn't so dark, but a pure, simple red. Shining blue eyes were glazed over from the heat. Her wavy hair seemed to be stuck together. Gallons of sweat poured from each of their faces.

"Jacob, are you sure there isn't anymore water?" the girl asked.

Sora looked hopeful. Perhaps he could get some too.

Jacob shook his head woefully. "If we don't find a settlement soon, we're going to roast out here."

Time seemed to speed up again. They shot off into the distance, leaving Sora behind. "Hey, wait!" Sora cried. "Help!!!"

Had they not seem him? They had only been three feet away. Why had he been so stupid as not to cry out before now?

What ever the reason, Sora was not given the time to think about. He was suddenly ripped from the desert and dropped into a large, circular, dimly lit room, with black Roman Gothic Columns in seemingly random places. Sora looked around through the dark and saw a man with wavy blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a blood red cloak and holding a short silver sword.

"What did you do to her, Noir?" a voice asked from somewhere else in the room.

"I shattered her memory and tore her Heart into an oblivion!" the man said happily, an undertone of insanity in his voice.

"Why?" asked the voice that Sora now recognized as Jacob.

"Simple: To cause you pain."

"You BASTARD!!!!!" Suddenly, the pillar Noir was standing behind was sliced in two by a silver kantana in Jacob's hands. "I'LL KILL YOU!!!!!!!"

Jacob swung at Noir, but the man simply dodged out of the way and laughed. "You can try."

Jacob flung himself at the man again, swinging seemingly at randomly at first, but Sora quickly noticed the subtle skill in his strokes. Each was quick, and had a long reach, but his hands were firmly gripping the handle, and even when Noir bashed against it with ferocious force Jacob didn't waver.

The two continued their mad duel until half the columns had been destroyed. Jacob's kantana needed to be sharpened; it only appeared to be a bar of metal now. Noir's sword, however, still gleamed as though it had just been polished.

"Don't you tire of this foolery?" Noir asked, expertly blocking Jacob's attacks. "You know it is senseless to try and beat me."

"I did my research," Jacob smirked, swinging so hard that he forced Noir into a blade lock. "I know that you've been defeated before."

"Glad to know that I'm dealing with a bookworm," Noir chuckled.

"I've learned almost everything I know about you from books," Jacob replied. "If I'm not dead yet, I must be doing something right."

Noir pushed hard on Jacob's sword and flipped away from the blade lock and Jacob. Jacob wasted no time in closing the gap between them. He charged on his advisory when...

**A few moments ago, in the real world...**

Sora was slumped over in the status tube, several scientists standing around him. Above the room was a long metal catwalk, on which stood seven armed men.

_"About to be disarmed,"_ Jacob thought.

BAM!!!! BA-BAM!!!!!!! BAM!!!!!! BAM!!!!!

Five of the guards dropped dead, their AK-47s falling from the catwalk to the floor below, firing off live rounds that flew through the scientists and other heaps of electronic equipment.

Jacob charged out onto the catwalk from an adjourning hall way and fired off his last shot into the chest of the sixth guard. The last one raised his gun, but it was too late: Jacob had taken the clip out of his pistol and hurled it at him. The clip hit him squarely between the eyes and he toppled over the side. Jacob grabbed one of the machine guns that hadn't fallen to the floor below and pointed it at the scientists. A few of them grabbed the guns as well, but they weren't fast enough.

Jacob opened fire with blistering accuracy as men slumped over onto the floor and computers showered sparks everywhere. Finally, one of the men managed to pop out of cover long enough to fire at Jacob. Jacob dropped onto the iron grated bottom of the catwalk, feeling bullets bounce of the iron and fly through the thin gaps, whistling past his face.

He heard the 'click' indicating that a clip was empty. He quickly jumped to his feet and unloaded again. More scientists ducked for cover or fell to the floor. Jacob had an opening to do what he wanted to do. He fired just a few feet above Sora's body, creating fractures in the tube. Several of the men screamed in furry as Sora's eyes slowly opened. Jacob fired off more shots just so that Sora would know that a fight was going on.

Sora seemed to get the message and stood up awkwardly. He looked just as weak as Kairi, but somehow he found the strength to stand. He summoned the Keyblade into his hands and slashed at the tube, shattering it into a thousand tiny peaces of glass.

_"That was about the stupidest thing he could have done,"_ Jacob though. _"He isn't going to be able to jump that glass."_

Jacob was right. Sora was far too weak to get over the shattered hazard that lay before him. He almost collapsed again from the strain of standing and had to use his Keyblade as a crutch.

One of the scientists decided that Sora could soon poise a major threat, so he aimed his rife right at Sora... and Jacob shot him in the back of the head.

Dead bodies lay scattered everywhere, computers and other electronics spitting out more and more sparks.

And suddenly, the lights died.

**Yeah, yeah, bad ending. But the chapter was getting a bit too long for my standards. I'll have another one up soon.**


	14. Incident at the F W C C: Part 3

**This will end my 'Incident at F. W. C. C.' trilogy of chapters. Enjoy.**

**Chapter 14: Incident at the Foreign World Control Center: Part 3**

**In the Lab room...**

It was so dark that Jacob couldn't see the hand in front of his face.

"Sora?" Jacob called. "Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear..." Sora replied almost silently.

It was quiet enough that Jacob heard him. "Good. I'm coming down. Kairi come on, it's dark enough that you can't see Sora anymore."

"How am I supposed to get to you?" her voice came through the dark.

Jacob sighed. "I'll grope my way over to you, then." And that's what he did. Feeling carefully along the catwalk, afraid to fall off, Jacob slowly approached the hallway that was connected to the catwalk.

Some sparks from a computer briefly lit the room. Sora was still leaning against his Keyblade in the shattered status tube, Jacob was holding the AK-47 and slowly approaching Kairi, wearing her tank top and blue jeans, waiting patiently in the hall.

The darkness fell again, and Jacob continued to work his way towards Kairi, Sora continued to stand, and someone, in the shadows, continued to sneak...

Jacob bumped into Kairi.

"Ouch!" she cried. "You're standing on my foot!"

"So I am," Jacob said, gently stepping away.

"Okay, so how do we get down to Sora and-mumff!!!

Jacob felt something hard cuff him across the face and he fell painfully onto the catwalk. He didn't dare to shoot; he might hit Kairi.

"Your Majesty!" Jacob yelled. But no reply. "Your Majesty!!... Kairi!!!!"

Another shower of sparks lit the room.... and Jacob saw Kairi, a gag shoved into her mouth, and three soldiers in stark white uniforms with gaping black eye holes. At their head was another soldier, dressed similarly accept for orange stripes running up the center of his helmet, torso armor, and leg coverings...

Darkness fell again. "Get her out of here!!" Captain Sienex yelled. "Get her to the shuttle and kill anyone who gets in your way!"

Kairi's muffled screams could be heard as the Stormtroopers grabbed her and forced her away.

"NO!!!!!! FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Suddenly a huge, white, almost liquid ball of fire lit up the room, blazing from the tip of Sora's Keyblade and tearing through the air right towards the Stormtrooper Captain.

Sienex flipped off the catwalk just as the ball of fire melted through it and disappeared. Darkness was absolute only for a moment before Sienex's jetpack ignited.

A large segment of the catwalk had melted, Jacob had just barely rolled out of the way, lest he would have been melted along with it. The catwalk seemed to detach and start to sway, and it most tilted until it was all Jacob could do to grip the railing and prevent himself from falling. His AK-47 fell from his grip and clattered to the ground below. He didn't really mind. Bullets would be useless against Sienex's armor. He had though he would be dealing with normal soldiers, not the terror that was a Stormtrooper...

_"Forget all that,"_ Jacob shook his head. _"Kairi and Sora need help."_

And it was then that Sienex made the foolish mistake of flying under Jacob to get a better shot. Jacob simply let go of the ruined catwalk and landed on Sienex's back. The two flew in jerky patterns around the room as Sienex tried to get the foolish interloper off...

Jacob and Sienex just barley few past the entrance to the hall in which Kairi had been standing a moment ago, and Jacob was able to reach the suitcase that was laying idly on the ground.

Still holding Sienex with one hand (now the two appeared like a cowboy riding a bull at a rodeo) he popped the suitcase open and threw something to Sora. "Catch!!" he yelled before he had to duck to avoid hitting the ceiling.

Sora snatched the Hi-Potion out of the air and quickly drank it down. Strength returning to him, he jumped over the shattered glass around his tube and towards the counter where his and Kairi's clothes lay.

It the half and constantly moving light of the jetpack, Sora dressed into the clothes the Three Good Fairies made for him a few months ago.

Jacob jumped off of Sienex's back and to the floor. Sienex dove at him and extended his light sword. Jacob dodged just in time to avoid being decapitated.

Sienex, now standing on the ground, charged at Jacob, slashing his blade through the air, each time barley missing Kairi's bodyguard.

"Sora!!" Jacob cried as he pulled a matrix to avoid one of Sienex's swipes. "Go and help Kairi! Hurry!"

Sora, now fully dressed, nodded and grabbed Kairi's clothes before jumping onto a heap of electronic equipment, up to what was left of the catwalk, and then down the hall.

Sienex tried to take off to go after the Keybearer, but suddenly a large computer monitor slammed into his head. He toppled over onto the ground.

Jacob proceeded to drop a computer onto Sienex's chest and kick him hard on the cheek plate, hoping to break the neck of the Captain.

But to no avail; Sienex shifted so that the computer fell off of him and jumped into the air with a spin kick that knocked Jacob off his feet and into a wall.

The only thing that had been illuminating the fight since Sienex turned off his jetpack was his light sword. Sienex seemed to realize this and with a devilish grin (which could not be seen under the helmet) and he deactivated it, plunging the room back into darkness.

_"No,"_ Jacob thought. _"Darkness for me. His helmet must have night vision!!"_

No sooner had the thought this than Sienex had taken his laser machine gun off his back and hit Jacob hard across the face with the stock. Jacob's glasses flew off somewhere into the dark, and he felt warm blood trickling down his cheek.

"A worthy fight, boy," Sienex chuckled as he cocked his rifle. "But not good enough."

Sparks. The gun was pointed right at him. Sienex was looming overhead.

He would have to find his glasses later.

One jumping spin kick in the light of the sparks sent the rife flying from Sienex's hands. Jacob saw vaguely where it fell before darkness came upon them again.

Jacob threw himself at the spot where the rife had fallen just as Captain Sienex did the same. They both grabbed it at the exact same time, but Jacob knew that he wouldn't be able to hold on; Sienex was stronger that he was, and he could see what to grip.

And then Sienex's armor clad leg slammed into Jacob's crotch with the force of a mule. Jacob crumpled to the ground with no chance of getting back up in time to stop the shots that suddenly blazed out of the barrel of Sienex's rifle...

**In the halls...**

Sora moved as fast has he could through the darkness. He continually bumped into walls and shouted Kairi's name, but he couldn't catch up to her and the Stormtroopers. He prayed that the lights would come on so that he could speed up, and that Kairi would put up a fight....

Suddenly, emergency red lights flickered to life. Eerie and dim as it was, Sora could see. He took off down the hall, hoping he was not too late.

**A few halls ahead of Sora...**

Kairi was manhandled along through the halls, having tripped several times in the dark and received violent beatings as a reward. Large bruises were already popping up all over her body.

And that was when the emergency lights turned on.

"Crap," one of the Stormtroopers said. "Do you think he really wants us to...?"

"Hold on," another one replied. "It'll flicker twice."

And it did.

"Alright men, you remember our orders," the last one said. "Shoot her!"

**Back down the halls...**

Sora heard the sound of blaster fire up ahead of him.

"Not Kairi," he muttered. "Not Kairi, too. Riku was enough..."

The world seemed to blur around him. All that mattered was getting to Kairi and making sure that she was okay.

What was he saying? She would be okay. She would be. She had to be.

Down the halls. More shots and a blood curling scream from the now presumably un-gaged Kairi.

She'll be alright. Just get to her. She'll be fine. She and you and Riku are all going to go back to Destiny Islands together after this is over...

More shots. This time no scream.

She has to be alright. There's no way they can kill her. She's a Princess of Heart.

_"Ah,"_ a nasty little voice said in the back of his head. _"But Alice died, didn't she?"_

She'll be okay. She'd pull through. Soon they would be back on the Shera asking Jacob questions about what the heck was going on here...

The shots stopped abrubtly. The noise of a body crumpling to the ground was heard.

No. She can't be dead. It isn't possible. Not. Possible.

He arrived. And what he saw shocked him.

All three of the Stormtroopers were lying dead, two of their heads bloodily severed from their bodies, the last one stabbed through the chest.

And Sora saw Kairi, collapsed against the wall, her eyes filled with terror and shock, and her right hand grasping a bloodstained Keyblade with floral designs at the top.

Kairi didn't seem to recognize his presence. Sora slowly walked over and knelt down beside her.

She continued to stare forward at the dead bodies before muttering, "Well, my Keyblade is finally here..." and fainting dead away into Sora's arms.

Her blood-riden Keyblade vanished, but Kairi's hands and face were still covered with human blood.

Sora gently lifted her into the air, cradling her with both arms, and walked past the strange scene and down another hall, hoping that Jacob would catch up soon and show him the way out.

**Ten minutes later...**

Well, Jacob hadn't caught up to them. Sora was tempted to go back and check on him, but quickly realized that he didn't even know how to get back. He had completely lost himself inside the confusing maze that was the basement of the large building.

But as he realized these things, as if triggered by his thoughts, a door to his right that he was sure hadn't been there before swung open. Sora stepped through into the white hallways that he remembered from earlier.

"At least I'm back on the surface," Sora sighed out loud. Now all he had to do was find his way out of the building.

**After another very long search-and-don't-find session...**

Sora finally found the exit of the large dome. He stepped out into the town and was shocked at the sight of burning houses and bodies of the strange gray-skinned creatures that inhabited the world.

Sora stood, Kairi still in his arms, gazing down at the town for a moment... before the dome blew up.

Sora was hurled into the air, barley keeping his grip on the Princess of Heart, and crashed at the bottom of the stairs, his head slamming into the ground.

The last thing he saw before his vision tunneled out was three slowly lowering knife shaped ships, and one large airship streaking towards town...

**Yes, I know that this chapter was EXTREMELY short. I sincerely apologize, but I needed to get on with the story, and the plot was starting to become to convoluted and slow.**

**However, I have something important to tell you: I have examined what I want to happen with this story, and it looks like this one is going to be something of a predecessor to two other, longer stories. This one is really just setting the scene. It will still be very important to the over all story though, so keep reading! (Oh, and tell your friends about me, please. I'm getting depressed with so few readers.)**

**I'll do another chapter of Star Wars: Episode One next, since I've put that off so long. Then, we'll get back to the action with Sora and the gang.**

**Oh, and about Jacob... You know, with possibly getting shot and the building blowing up... What do you think?**

**Let me say this before you answer: EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED!!!!!**

**Heck, Kairi actually getting her Keyblade at this point was unexpected... I wanted to wait until later, but she's kinda just getting in my way when I write fight scenes. You know, I have to figure out something for her to do while the others go and kick butt without her... it was just getting too hard.**


	15. The Fast, the Gambling, and the Tattooed

**Sorry for the extremely long delay on this chapter. Really. But the thing is, this chapter stinks. Unless you've never seen Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, you should probably skip this chapter. **

**Actually, if you haven't seen Episode One, then you should go watch it anyway.**

**Oh, and I hope you get the humor behind this title.**

**Chapter 12: The Fast, the Gambling, and the Tattooed**

**Previously...**

**In the streets of the desert city...**

"_I've built a racer," Anakin said. "It's the fastest ever! There's a big race tomorrow. You could enter my pod!"_

**Now we continue...**

The pods shot forward with incredible speed. Already most of them were out of sight.

"Oh wait! Little Skywalker has stalled!" one of the announcers laughed.

"What?!?" Padme exclaimed. The whole group looked down over the edge of their platform to see that Anakin and another racer had indeed stalled out.

Anakin was sitting in his pod, franticly flipping switches and trying to figure out what was wrong. It looked like this primary power source hadn't had enough time to charge. Anakin grabbed a switch and flipped it, then plugged a small cord into a jack. He drew two different switches together, activating the auxiliary power. He grabbed the controls and pushed himself into full speed. The craft jerked violently and he was off.

"And there goes Skywalker!" the announcer said. "He'll be hard pressed to catch up with the leaders."

"This is great," Riku muttered sarcastically.

"He said his pod was the fastest ever built," Yuffie commented. "He might still pull it off."

Up ahead in the desert, things were heating up. Subulba had already rammed into two other pods, eliminating them from the race. It was very clear that most people didn't survive these races; the pods Subulba had rammed had gone up in fiery explosions.

Now that Anakin was far away from the arena, our heroes had started watching him using a private viewing device that followed their boy exclusively. He had already passed three of the racers and was certainly proving that his ship was fast.

Anakin himself was feeling very angry at himself for not fixing his craft quicker. He could have been in the top five by now if he hadn't taken so long figuring out what the problem was. But he forced those thoughts out of his mind and focused on the race.

He was coming up on a giant mesa. The track went straight through a crack in the middle. It was so tight that two pods couldn't be side by side without scraping against the stone walls that surrounded them. He knew that at least a few contestants would die on this stretch of the race. If he could just get ahead of a few of them before he went in he would have a better chance of holding his place. Where was he now? It didn't really matter. He could see at least three pods in front of him, and there were bound to be more already in the mesa. He grabbed a large pole below him and yanked up hard on it, increasing his speed even more.

"He's going to try and pass them before the reach the mesa," Shmi explained.

"He's crazy!" Riku cried. "He said the emergency speed boost is only supposed to be used in... well... emergencies!"

"Yeah, he said the engines would overheat if he used them too much," Padme added in concern.

"If he can get ahead of them before they reach the mesa, there is a chance that the people in front of him will crash," Shmi continued. "He's going to make sure that there are less people in front of him so he can maneuver better if there is any wreckage."

"Anakin really has been in a lot of races, hasn't he?" Riku asked.

"Hm?"

"You know a lot about his racing style and how the sport works."

"Watto forced him to enter in races a lot. I don't really know why. Maybe to advertise for his shop or something."

Anakin shot past two of the pods. He wasn't able to reach the third one before he was right outside of the crack in the mesa. He shut off his emergency boost and slowed down a bit so that he wouldn't crash.

Up in the ranks, Subulba was still playing dirty. Whenever someone got too close to his tail, he would drop his speed and force them to swerve into the wall. He had cleared away a good five contestants in the first lap, and it didn't look like he was going to stop. Now he and the leaders were approaching a cave in the mesa. This was where a lot of racers bought it because it was so dark inside.

Anakin was nearing the cave as well, but he was still a great deal behind the top four. He would need to hope that some of them crashed in the cave.

Back in the stadium, Riku looked at the bottom corner of their privet screen. "He's in sixth," he said. Then he looked at the standings for the other racers. "Oh, but we've lost six... that's encouraging..."

"Go Anne! Go Anne!" Jar-Jar chanted.

Anakin shot right into the mouth of the cave. He was trapped in darkness for a moment before a pod blew up in front of him. The blazing inferno that suddenly shot forth lit the entire cavern, and Anakin could see the leaders departing on the other side of the cave. Using the newfound light to his advantage, he shot forward, neatly dodging boulders and other obstacles.

"Oh no!" the announcer cried. "Looks like some Tusken Raders are camped out on the side of the dune turn!"

"What are Tusken Raders?" Yuffie asked.

As if on cue, the screen showed a group of creatures, built like men, wrapped in heavy brown cloth with strangely shaped goggles over their eyes. Most of them were carrying large laser rifles.

Already the strange warriors had shot down one of the pods. The other racers were pulling evasive maneuvers to avoid the shots, giving Anakin time to catch up. He shot out of the cave and he could see the other racers clearly. He also started moving in random directions to avoid the laser blasts coming from the rifles up on the end of the huge banked curve they were now cruising down.

The Tusken Raiders were not letting up their attack yet, and Anakin knew he needed to get out before the got blown away. He grabbed his emergency full lever again and pulled up hard. His ship jerked and he shot off the curve and into a canyon. The leaders had already beaten him there.

"He's only got to pass through the canyon and then one final desert stretch to complete the first lap," Shmi said.

Anakin dropped his speed so that he wouldn't crash into the sides of the canyon as he watched another contestant's right engine slam into a spire. He ducked just as a chunk of metal flew over his pod.

"That was too close," Riku muttered.

"And here comes Subulba!!" the announcer cried. Subulba shot through the arena followed shortly by two others. A light switched on indicating that the second lap had started.

"And there's Skywalker!" the announcer said a few moments later. "He's certainly gained some ground since the beginning of the race!"

Anakin's pod ripped through the arena. Jar-Jar jumped up into the air and cheered. Down on the edge of the track, R2-D2 made a few beeping noises to C-3PO. "He has to complete two more circles?" the droid asked. "Oh dear."

Anakin shot towards the mesa once again as Sublulba bashed into another pod. That pod flew off the the right and missed the crack in the mesa, driving straight into the rock. The dug laughed as he flew off into the crack, followed by another racer, then Anakin.

The race raged on until the three reached the desert stretch. Subulba grabbed a tool of sorts out of a compartment and tossed it out into space behind him. It unluckily flew into the engine of the other racer, and the pod blew up. Anakin swerved seconds before he hit the wreckage.

"Oh my God!!" the announcer cried as the two leaders shot into the arena. "The leader is Subulba followed closely by SKYWALKER!!!!"

"Yes!!!!!" All of Anakin's friends (minus Qui-Gon of course) cheered as the pods ripped away to complete the final lap.

Subulba was extremely ticked. He had sabotaged Anakin's pod. Why hadn't anything happened yet?

The two flew through the mesa, carefully avoiding the rocky walls. Anakin tried to pull up from the side, but Subulba jerked violently once the human was in his range, almost slamming him into the wall.

"Oh no! Little Skywalker has been forced onto the service ramp!" the announcer said.

Anakin was rammed right onto a ramp that lead upward to the top of the mesa.

"Ho-ho!!" Subulba laughed. Anakin shot off the ramp and into the air.

The boy reached for some controls. He flipped a switch, jammed down on a button, and killed his engines. His pod came screaming out of the sky towards the track. He hit the thrusters just in time to avoid smashing into the ground, and he was back on track. He looked in front of him and didn't see Subulba. He looked behind him.

"It's SKYWALKER!!!" the anouncer screamed. The crowd was in an uproar. "An unbelievable move and Skywalker takes the jump on Subulba and pulls into first place!!!"

All of Anakin's friends cheered loudly, as did a few members of the audience. But the dominating noise in the stadium was furious cries of anger. Clearly Watto wasn't the only one who had been betting on Subulba.

Subulba screamed in furry that his trick had actually given Skywalker an opening to pass him. That was just plain crappy.

The two blasted out of the chasm, shot down the dune turn, through the tunnel, and then, it happened.

Suddenly the scanners on Anakin's dashboard started going haywire. And then, thick black smoke started to escape from his left engine in billowing clouds.

Anakin had no choice: he slowed down as much as he could without stopping so that he could figure out what the problem was.

Subulba, laughing because his sabotage had finally paid off, and coughing because of the smoke in his face, swerved around Anakin and out of sight.

It didn't take Anakin long to jump into action. He threw switches and pressed buttons madly, trying desperately to get adequate power back to his left engine. He closed the hatch from which the smoke was escaping, and switched half the power in his right engine to his left. No good.

Anakin's mind was racing. What could he do to get himself back in the race?

"_Come on... come on... come on..."_ Suddenly a light-bulb went of in Anakin's head. His main power source had been dead at the beginning of the race. Now that it had been sitting for a while...

Anakin cut auxiliary power and reverted to his original power source. "Yes!!" he cried. He just had enough power to finish the race. At least, he hoped.

He jammed down on the accelerator and shot after Subulba again.

Quickly enough, Anakin's pod reached Subulba again. If Subulba had been angry at Anakin before, now he was downright _pissed_.

There was only the final desert stretch remaining. The two pods hurtled along, neck and neck, until...

Suddenly Subulba rammed into the side of Anakin's pod. _Hard_. Anakin looked at the point where they had collided and saw that some cables on his pod had become intertwined with some on Sebulba's!

Subulba jerked hard on his controls, trying to break away from Anakin.

Anakin allowed himself to be pulled along for a few moments... Subulba jerked again...

Anakin gunned his engines and detached himself from Subulba's pod. Subulba's right pod detached and slammed into a boulder, obverting it in a ball of flaming metal. Subulba's pod dropped dead on the ground as Anakin left him behind and flew all the way to the finish line.

**Later...**

"Way to go Anne!!" Jar-Jar said happily. The group had gathered in the garage after Anakin had won the race. Each of them was taking turns giving him their personal thanks.

Yuffie was up next. "Great job, little guy," she said, ruffling his hair a bit. He looked a bit annoyed when she did this. "Here's some advice for the next time you race. Don't take so many chances. You're going to get yourself killed."

"Here's some advice for you," Anakin replied. "Don't do your _intro_ anymore. No one likes it."

Yuffie adopted a somewhat bemused look before she was pulled away by Riku.

Padme knelt down and gave Anakin a hug. "We owe you everything, Anne," she said with a smile. "Thanks."

Then his mother. "It's so wonderful, Anne!" she said happily. "You have brought hope to those who had none. I'm so proud of you!"

And Riku. Riku knelt down in front of Anakin, a look of deep though on his face for a moment, before whispering in Anakin's ear, "Never take advice from Yuffie."

Riku looked up and noticed that Qui-Gon had disappeared. "Excuse me for a second," he said. Riku stood and walked off, already anticipating what was about to happen.

**In a private box...**

"You can't have him! It wasn't a fair bet!" Watto yelled at Riku. Qui-Gon had left to find the junk dealer and had just caught him before he could leave the stadium.

"Well, you know what they say," Riku replied calmly. "If you gamble, eventually you will lose."

"If you two can't settle this," Qui-Gon interrupted. "I am sure that the Hutts will be able to settle this."

Watto gave Qui-Gon a look of pure contempt, before looking away and saying, "Take him."

Qui-Gon smiled and said, "Thank you," before walking off. Watto scowled and flapped after him.

Riku almost felt like laughing... until he noticed a small black robot hovering in air outside of the box, an optict-like camera pointing right at him. The robot noticed Riku's recognition of his presence, and sped off towards the outskirts of town. Riku followed the robot with his eyes until it was just a tiny black speck... but it was approaching something several miles away from town... something that looked like a ship.

**On the outskirts...**

"What do you mean, 'Can we come with you guys?' Like we would turn you down after everything we've been through together!"

Padme had just been asked by Riku and Yuffie if they could come along with them since their ship was still out of commission. P.J. was standing idly at the side.

"Well, we're glad we have your approval, but aren't you going to need to ask your queen?" Riku asked.

Padme paled. "Er... yeah, I suppose... totolly forgot... I'll go ask her..."

They were standing in the middle of the desert, near the large silver ship. Padme turned and ran off to the ship, while Yuffie looked at Riku and smiled. "We're getting off this dust ball!" she said happily.

Riku couldn't help but smile. Yuffie's energy was starting to grow on him.

"Though it's kind of weird," Riku started. "That she's so confident that she is representing the Queen's opinion. It's like she's inside her head."

"Well, new Galaxy, different principals," Yuffie replied. "Maybe they can communicate with each other tell-u-pathicly or whatever..."

"Telepathically," Riku corrected.

Padme was running back down the ramp. "She said yes!" Padme cried happily as she jogged over. "You're clear to come with us as long as Qui-Gon vouches for you."

"Hey, where is Qui-Gon?" Riku asked. "I wanted to ask him something. I didn't even notice that he wasn't with us when we hiked up here."

"He said he was coming with the hyperdrive in a bit," Yuffie said. She tilted her head to one side. "Weren't you listening when Jar-Jar told us?"

Riku almost answered that one, he didn't ever listen to Jar-Jar and two, he was pre-occupied with thinking about the robot he had seen. But then, he though better of it.

**Meanwhile, outside of Anakin's house...**

"Here. These are yours." Qui-Gon said, handing Anakin a pouch full of cash that _would_ be accepted on this planet.

"Yes!" Anakin shouted happily as he opened the door to his house and ran inside. "Mom!" he shouted. "We sold the Pod! Look at all the money we have!"

"My goodness!" Shmi gasped. "That's so wonderful, Anne!"

"And he's free." Qui-Gon said with a smile.

"What?!?" Anakin exclaimed, whirling on Qui-Gon.

"You're no longer a slave," the man replied. "Riku made a bet with Watto before the race started."

Anakin turned to his mother. "Did you hear that?"

Shmi's face was a mixture of happiness and sorrow. She had clearly guessed that she was not free. "Now you can make your dreams come true, Anne," was all she could say. She gazed up at Qui-Gon curiously. "Will you take him with you? Is he to become a Jedi?"

"Yes." Qui-Gon answered. "Our meeting was not a coincidence. Nothing happens by accident."

Anakin looked like he was going to start bouncing off the walls. "You mean I get to come with you in your starship?"

Qui-Gon knelt down and addressed the boy. "Anakin, training to become a Jedi is not an easy challenge. Even if you succeed, it's a hard life."

"But I wanna go!" Anakin pleaded. "It's what I've always dreamed of doing!" He turned to his mother. "Can I go, Mom?"

Shmi grasped his hands in her own. "Anakin, this path has been placed before you. The choice is yours alone."

"I wanna do it!" Anakin said firmly.

"Then pack your things." Qui-Gon said. "We need to leave as quickly as possible."

Anakin ran off happily to get ready, but suddenly stopped. "What about Mom? Is she free too?"

Qui-Gon knew that was coming. He only sighed and said, "Riku tried, Anakin, but Watto was... well, Watto. You should know better than any of us."

Anakin walked back toward his mother. "You're coming with us, aren't you Mom?"

Shmi only looked sadly at him. "Anakin... my place is here... my future is here. It is time for you to let go."

"But... I don't want things to change." Anakin replied sadly.

"But you can't stop the change, any more than you can stop the suns from setting." Shmi told him before wrapping her arms around him. "Now hurry," she added.

Anakin ran to pack his things. As he did so, Shmi stood up. "Thank Riku." she managed to say to Qui-Gon.

"I will look after him." Qui-Gon said. "You have my word."

**At the ship...**

"Er... yeah, I'm Riku... and this is Yuffie... and P.J.."

Riku was feeling a bit weird giving introductions again. But it had been easier when he had been in the street, talking with Qui-Gon and his group. Now he was in a small audience chamber, surrounded by guards with guns, a young man around twenty in robes like Qui-Gon's, and at the back of the room was the Queen, wearing in a black dress with pale white makeup covering her entire face. The Queen herself was surrounded by her handmaidens, each of them decked out in long orange dresses. Padme, also in a dress, was standing next to Riku and his group.

"Like I said, we met them in the streets," Padme said. "They are refugees from another Galaxy. Or, at least, that's as near as they can figure." She looked at Riku, as though to check that she hadn't messed anything up so far. He gave her a quick smile and she continued. "They were sucked through a wormhole and their ship was damaged. The material their ship is made of... well, they couldn't find it in any stores. We let them come with us."

"What does Master Qui-Gon think of them?" the Queen asked. It was the first time she had spoken.

"He trusts them," Padme replied. "Or, that's the impression I got."

"I would very much like to hear that from my Master myself," the man in robes said, stepping forward. "We could have been tracked here. We've got to be sure that these people aren't with the Trade Federation."

Riku and Yuffie just looked at each other and sighed. It looked like there was going to be a lot of storytelling on the way to their next destination.

**On a mesa several miles out of the town...**

A man in a black cloak held a binocular resembling device, pointing it at the town. Slowly, a small black robot flew towards him. It arrived, beeped some coded message, and floated off to the black ship resting behind the man.

The man in the black cloak put the binoculars into his cloak and jumped onto a hovering bike of sorts and took off into the distance with only two objectives in mind: _"Eliminate the Jedi and capture the Queen..."_

**Near the ship...**

Qui-Gon and Anakin ran through the desert, the Naboo ship in sight. Riku was walking down the entry ramp.

"Master Qui-Gon sir! Wait up, I'm tired!" Anakin called after the man.

Qui-Gon turned around. Anakin had fallen a significant distance behind. It was still impressive how long he had been able to keep up with him. Wait... what was that...?

"Anakin! Drop!!" Qui-Gon cried. Anakin did as he was told just in time to avoid being smashed by an incoming hover bike. The rider of the vehicle leapt out of his place and flipped through the air before landing in front of Qui-Gon. Riku took initiative and charged forward. The figure's hood fell from his face...

Ugh. Riku couldn't tell if it was natural or if the strange person had simply tattooed his entire face. He had no hair, only short, stubby horns sticking up out of his head. Riku counted about ten. The stranger reached into his cloak and pulled out a staff covered with switches and buttons. Much like the one that Qui-Gon carried.

Wait... Qui-Gon's staff was supposed to be a sword...

From the figure's staff suddenly extended a long, red, sizzling blade. Just like the one Captain Sienex used.

"Anakin! Get on the ship!" Qui-Gon yelled as his sword-less hilt flew into his hand and ignited. A meter long, green blade shot out of it as Qui-Gon moved to engage the new-commer. "Tell them to take off!"

Anakin gave a quick nod as he ran off to the ship as fast as his little legs would carry him. Riku summoned his Keyblade and jumped into the fray just as Qui-Gon and the man's blades made contact.

Riku tried to help Qui-Gon out by giving him strength in numbers, but the strange man was an extremely skilled advisory. His blade seemed to be everywhere at once!

Meanwhile, Anakin ran up the boarding ramp to Queen Amidala's ship. He ran through a white and gray room to the cockpit, which was currently housing three pilots and the young man in Jedi robes.

"Qui-Gon and Riku are in trouble! They said to take off!" Anakin cried.

The pilots looked out the window and noticed the fray and quickly lifted the ship off the groud.

The young man pointed to the fight. "There. Fly low and keep the loading ramp open."

Riku dodged another swipe from the man as Qui-Gon flanked the assassin from the side. Riku took a moment to look up. The Queen's ship was flying low right over them. "Qui-Gon! Now!" Riku cried, jumping up to the ramp. Qui-Gon was quick to follow. The two ran onto the ship as the ramp closed and the ship sped away.

Riku and Qui-Gon collapsed onto the floor of the ship, their weapons vanishing and deactivating respectively.

Anakin, Yuffie, and the young man in the robe ran in. R2-D2 rolled in behind them. "Are you guys alright?" Anakin asked.

"I think so," Qui-Gon panted.

"What was that thing?" the other man asked.

"I haven't got a clue," Riku replied. "Then again, we aren't from around here." He looked to Qui-Gon.

"I don't know either," Qui-Gon said quickly. "But it was well trained in the Jedi arts. My guess is, it was after the Queen."

"What are we gonna do about it?" Anakin looked worried.

Qui-Gon thought for a moment. "We shall be patient," Qui-Gon said finally. Then he motioned to the other man. "Anakin Skywalker, meet... Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Anakin stuck out a hand, which Obi-Wan shook. "Hi," Anakin said. "You're a Jedi too?" Obi-Wan nodded. "Pleased to meet you!"

Obi-Wan chuckled a bit as he let go of Anakin's hand.

Riku started to stand, but instead was grabbed by Yuffie, who hugged him so tightly that Riku couldn't inhale.

"That psycho's blade nearly took your head off!!" Yuffie yelled. "Sora would have been SO angry at me if we went back without you..."

Riku tried to wiggle his way out, but Yuffie had a grip of iron. He was sure that he was turning blue.

"And Kairi would have been angry too, not to mention Mickey...."

Riku noticed that she had left herself out of the list, something he was wholly grateful for. Being hugged to death was embarrassing enough.

"Yuffie," Qui-Gon said. "As you can see, we are both alright, and Riku's head is intact. However, I dare say that his lungs will not be in perfect condition if you continue to hold him so."

Yuffie looked confused for a moment before gasping a little, "Oh!" and relinquishing Riku, who collapsed again. "Oops! Sorry! I'll help you back up!"

"That's okay," Riku said hastily, waving her arms away. Anakin and Qui-Gon smiled, and Obi-Wan just looked confused.

Riku hopped to his feet and helped Qui-Gon up. The five of them stood their for a moment before Riku said, "I guess now is a good time to get our stories straight with each other."

**I'll be back soon.**

**If you didn't get the joke in the title for this chapter, it was a nod towards the classic Western film **_**The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly**_**.**


	16. Dreams

**Now you're going to get some answers about the weird things that happened in my 'Heir of Radiant Garden' chapters. Not many, but a few. **

**Well, hardly any.**

**If anything, you'll walk away with about twenty more questions.**

**One of them 'll be if I have any sense of plot what-so-ever.**

**Chapter 16: Dreams**

**Previously...**

**At the Radiant Garden Market...**

_Kairi didn't notice a Stormtrooper sneaking up behind her. He was about to shoot when..._

_"NOT THIS TIME!!!"_

_Kairi whipped around just in time to see Jacob leap from from a nearby building and unload a laser machine gun on a Stormtrooper who was about to shoot her. The trooper crumpled to the ground after seconds._

_Jacob landed next to Kairi, easily holding his gun in one hand while Kairi held the same type in two._

_"Er... thanks," Kairi said._

_"It was my job to protect you," Jacob said. "No one ever relieved me of duty."_

**Still at the Market...**

_Suddenly Jacob's cell phone went off. _

_"Hey, who's calling?" Sora asked._

_"How should I know?" Jacob asked flipping his phone open. His eyes seemed to widen as he saw the caller ID. Or was it just Sora's imagination? They seemed normal now. Sora got a quick glimpse at the phone. The ring-tone was titled 'Winterwood'. Sora was about to look at the caller ID when Jacob moved the phone to his ear._

**In a dark room...**

_"I'm your uncle, Kairi," the man said._

**The darkened lab...**

_Jacob couldn't see a thing as Captain Sienex shot right at him..._

**In the halls..**

_Kairi was crouched against the wall, a bloody Keyblade in her hands. Three dead Stormtroopers lay on the ground before her._

**Outside the dome...**

_The building suddenly exploded, sending Sora and Kairi's limp form flying. Just as the world around Sora faded into the dark, he saw three Star Destroyers and the Shera streaking towards him..._

**Now we continue...**

Sora slowly opened his eyes, then closed them again because of the bright light that he was looking directly at.

He waited for a moment, then opened his eyes as slowly as he could. The world around him was a white blur.

He closed his eyes again. "Please don't be in the dome.... please don't be in the dome..."

Open. He looked around slowly and saw that he was in the medical room of the Shera. On the bed to his right, he could make out the blurred image of Kairi. On the bed to his left, he could just make out Aerith and someone with blond hair standing over her...

He opened his eyes again. The world was ten times clearer, and the room's lights were out. Sora quickly looked over the Aerith again, but there was no one standing over her for all he could see.

The door to the room opened. The shadow created from the light in the hall hid the person's features, but Sora identified the person quickly as Goofy. Goofy walked into the room and turned on the light, and was followed in shortly by Donald and Max.

"Are any of you guys awake yet?" Goofy asked quietly.

Sora tired to say 'yes' but it came out more like "Grruuuuu...."

That was enough, though.

"SORA!!!!!"

Sora felt himself ripped out of the bed sheets and hugged tightly before being swung around the room.

"Dad, you're going to kill him!!" Max yelled.

"Oh... sorry Sora," Goofy said, gently setting a somewhat dizzy and punch-drunk Sora onto the floor.

"I'z okay..." Sora groaned, clutching his forehead. "What the heck happened?"

"Well, you and Kairi went down the the surface of the new world, and Jacob went down behind you in about ten seconds. We figured something must have been wrong if you would disobey Kairi's vacation order. We were sorta just trying to decide what to do when-"

"KABLOOEY!!!!!" Donald yelled, cutting Goofy off. "Star Destroyers!!! Four of em'!! They jumped right out of space and attacked!! Cid flew the ship right around the world to hide from them, and then one of the ships landed on the surface. We knew it was coming after you. What other reason would it have?"

"So we flew down," Max started. "And we saw the Stormtroopers slaughter the population of the world! I don't think anyone survived! Then about twenty of them went into the huge dome building, and that's where we figured _you_ went. So we just sort of looped the world a few more times, avoiding Star Destroyers, then flew down onto the planet and saw you guys come out of the dome. We... well, we needed to land and pick you up, but if we did that, Stormtroopers could come out and attack. Plus, there were the three Star Destroyers that hadn't landed on our tail. So, we blew up the dome (We probably should have thought that one through, but the heat of the moment got to us...) and picked you guys up. We didn't really have an option. We didn't see Jacob anywhere. Was he...?"

"Inside?" Sora asked, his head becoming clearer with every word his friends spoke. "Yeah, but I think he was dead anyway. We left him fighting Captain Sienex, and even Riku couldn't beat him."

The four of them exchanged awkward looks.

"Do you think Kairi will be very upset?" Donald quacked.

" 'Don't think so," Sora shrugged. "She seemed to think he was an annoyance more than anything." He gave a weak grin. "He saved my life though... probably Kairi's too."

"I still feel like there was something screwy about him..." Donald quacked.

"You mean like he was keeping a secret?" Max asked. "I felt the same way!"

"What kind of secret, though?" Goofy murmured.

"Secret?" Sora asked. "I never got that feeling."

"Tifa was the one who gave us the idea," Donald said. "When Radiant Garden was attacked, Jacob got a phone call. She got a quick look at the Caller ID: it was the King!"

"That means that the King would have had to have called him before," Goofy added.

"Oh, yeah," Sora muttered. "He said that orders came 'directly from King Mickey'... Why didn't I notice?"

"And further evidence could be drawn from the fact that Mickey didn't introduce himself to Jacob when they met," Max said. "He always makes sure he knows who everyone is, just to be polite."

"So what you're saying is that Jacob and the King must have known each other before the attack on Radiant Garden." Sora gave a low whistle. "Did you guys know him?"

"Nope," Donald quacked. "I ain't got a clue how the King knew him."

"Did you guys pull up a video conference with him?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, and he said that he knew Jacob. But he wouldn't tell us how." Donald sighed. "He cut the transmission, because they needed to conserve energy to keep the shield around Disney Castle up."

"Did you ask him how much longer the shield could hold out?" Sora asked.

"He said that even if they didn't use any power at all, they only had a week or two," Max replied worriedly. "I don't even want to think about what would happen then..."

Sora wasn't listening any more. Disney Castle... with it, the King and Queen... Daisy...

And Jacob... Sora hadn't really known him, but all the same, he saved Sora's life, and he probably saved Kairi's.... not just down on that worldworld, but several other times... For that, Sora was grateful.

He looked at Kairi's limp form on the bed next to his. He walked over and examined her. Her face had been washed of the blood, as had her hands. He expression was troubled, and her face twitched every few seconds.

"She wasn't really hurt," Max said. "She landed on you after the explosion, so that wasn't too bad. But... well, Merlin looked her over and said that she was in shock about something. You know anything about that?"

"She killed three Stormtroopers," Sora said bluntly. "With a Keyblade."

Donald and Goofy gasped. "Did her Keyblade finally appear?" they asked in union.

"Yeah," Sora answered, but he wasn't really paying attention. He was thinking. Why had they been captured in the first place?

"Can Merlin wake her up?" Sora asked.

"He said that she's traumatized," Max answered. "Waking her up wouldn't help."

"Traumatized?"

"Dealing with some sort of trouble within. Waking her up in the middle of that conflict wouldn't be good..."

Sora didn't look up from Kairi. Instead, he grabbed a small stool that sat at the head of his bed, pulled it over, and sat down next to Kairi. "I'm gonna give her some moral support."

The three Disney Castle'ers caught the drift and walked out without another word.

**In Kairi's Mind...**

Kairi ran as fast as she could through the dark cave. Eerie bodies of Stormtroopers lay everywhere around her. She was covered in blood, but she didn't know why. It seemed that she had been running for hours. She wanted nothing more than the cave to end so that she could curl up into a ball and close her eyes and be free of this nightmare...

But the cave did not end. It kept going and going and going.... until she came to the Secret Place.

The Secret Place on Destiny Islands.

She turned around: the cave she had been trapped in was gone. It was the exit of the secret place. Reluctantly, she turned and walked out.

The sun hit her face as she stepped out into the light of the Playground Island. The sound of waves and the water fall and the laughter of children filled her ears like music.

She saw two figures on the beach. She moved closer and saw... a younger Sora crouching over a younger Kairi.

Kairi's face was buried in the sand, the lapping waves of the ocean rising every few seconds to her knees. Sora's face was, if nothing else, curious. He actually prodded her with his pointer finger, as though seeing if she was alive.

The older Kairi slowly walked closer. Then she looked down at her own feet. There were no depressions in the sand where she had stepped.

She walked even closer to the two. She stopped just before the two children and knelt down. The younger Kairi stirred. Her head lifted slightly out of the sand, just enough for it to fall again, but so that her face was exposed. She looked right at Sora.

"Who are you? Where did you come from?"

Sora's childish questions were the last thing the younger Kairi or the older Kairi heard. The younger Kairi fainted away again, and the older Kairi suddenly felt as though she was hurtling through space at a ridiculously fast rate, her hair blowing back and the force knocking her off her feet.

Then everything stopped. Kairi looked up to see that she was in a small, dimly lit room. A man with red hair sat at a long table, at the other end an ugly woman red hair, pale skin, strange black tattoos, and a strange headdress from which sprouted two horns. She was muscular and broad shouldered, and didn't appear to have any breasts of any kind. She was about the size of four average men, and her chair, which was huge, still wasn't quite big enough to accommodate her properly.

"So, do we have a deal, Adel?" the man asked. Kairi remembered him as the man who had claimed to be her uncle.

"Of course I understand," the woman smiled. "Causing pain and fear in the lives of thousands is what I do best."

"I do hope that you will make it quick, though," the man said. "I think Ansem is getting suspicious."

"There is nothing that old man can do to stop me," Adel replied. "After all, I foresee that his own apprentice, this... Xehanort.... will betray him."

"Indeed?" the man asked.

Adel ignored the question. "Do not misunderstand me. I am allying myself with you for two reasons only."

"One: I was planning on taking this world anyway."

"Two: She will make a fine successor."

"You refer to Kairi?" the man asked.

"Her sister, fool," Adel replied hotly. "A Princess of Heart could never become a Sorceress."

Kairi couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had a sister?

"You certainly have interesting wishes for your nieces, Mr..... what did you say your name was?"

"That concerns you not," the man replied.

"Of course," Adel grinned. And in the wink of an eye, she had vanished.

Kairi felt it again. She was hurtling through space, the force of it blowing her off her feet, her eyes watering as though she was fighting the winds of a hurricane...

Again, it stopped. But when it stopped, it truly started.

A younger Leon, around the age of 18 or 17, stood next to several men and women of the same age. One was a young man with blonde hair and a strange tattoo on the side of his face. Another was a girl with long dirty blond hair and glasses, a whip at her side. There was another man, this one with a cowboy hat and a long pony tail. A shotgun was raised, pointing at something. Then there was another girl in yellow overalls, slightly too small for her, welding a nunchuck like weapon who looked vaguely familiar to Kairi.

Towering over them was the woman named Adel, with a young woman in a blue and white dress in her clutches. The girl had black hair with three carmel shaded highlights on either side of her temple, and she looked as though she was going to pass out.

Suddenly, Leon's Gunblade was firing off a shot a second, the tattooed man pummeling Adel with his fists, the blond haired woman casting some sort of spell on the girl held by Adel, the cowboy-resembling man fired off shots from his shotgun with superb accuracy, not once hitting the girl, and the girl in overalls was hitting Adel with her nunchuck.

Kairi didn't remain to watch the fight. She was whisked away again to see the same people fighting with a monstrous dragon sort of thing, this time the girl in blue at their side. The name 'Ultimecia' drifted through Kairi's mind as she looked at the monster.

The group fought against the beast, which seemed to transform again and again into new forms. And slowly, every ten minutes or so, one of the group was seemingly absorbed into thin air.

Eventually, only Leon was left. Kairi watched as he attacked the new giant that had appeared with a burning passion and a look of pure hate on his face that Kairi had never seen from anyone before. And finally, just when she thought that the fight might go on forever, Leon delivered the final blow. And as Ultimencia disappeared in an explosion of light, Kairi felt herself pulled away yet again...

**The Shera's medical room...**

Kairi stopped twitching abruptly. Sora looked hopeful, but Kairi didn't open her eyes.

**Back in Kairi's mind...**

Kairi was standing outside her house. She could hear noise coming from the backyard. She quickly hopped the fence and walked around the large house of the Mayor of Destiny Islands, who had adopted her when she first arrived on the Islands.

She walked along the side of the house and came face to face with another younger version of herself talking with a younger Riku. Riku was leaning against the wall of the house with his hands in his pockets, trying to look cool. The younger Kairi, surprisingly, actually looked very taken with him, and was blushing furiously.

The older Kairi didn't stop to listen to what they were talking about. She remembered all too well. She walked past quickly and into the backyard.

Apparently it was Kairi's 12th birthday. She could see the Wakka, who was a year older than her, and several of her other old friends, including Tidus and Selphie, both a year younger than her. Kairi soon noticed Sora as well, who seemed to be the only one who noticed that Kairi was not present in her own party. He was glaring at Riku and Kairi, an envious look on his face.

But then Kairi noticed someone who she was sure hadn't been on the guest list. Jacob was standing on the road behind the house, a teenaged girl with wavy red hair standing next to him. Jacob was smiling and looking at the Kairi who had existed in that time, shaking his head a bit when noticing that a boy was flirting with her.

Then he caught the glare from Kairi's adoptive mother.

Jacob gave her a sort of 'whatever' look and, with a smile, walked off down the road, the girl in tow.

The view shifted once again, Kairi feeling herself fly through space for only a few seconds before she reached her newest destination.

Jacob and the girl were standing outside a large apartment building, a man short brown hair and a gray suit next to them. The van on the street's doors opened and several men, one of them standing out because of his blond hair, walked after them carrying large cases containing some unknown substance.

Kairi started to follow them, but the scene shifted again. She was standing on the surface of a world that looked as though it had been scared by fire. Not one living thing sprouted from the ground, and burning buildings were everywhere. Jacob and the girl ran as fast as their feet could carry them, and Kairi soon saw why: a huge Heartless, easily five times the size of any that Sora had ever defeated.

Kairi, even knowing that the beast couldn't hurt her since she was only a phantom, ran after Jacob and the girl.

They ran out of the flaming town and across an empty plain, treading across ash instead of dirt.

Suddenly the girl collapsed into the ash: she had tripped over a rock. Jacob had two options: he could leave her and run, or turn around and try to save her, inevitably being killed by the Heartless.

He turned around.

Jacob pulled a pistol out out of a holster and unloaded an entire clip in about two seconds. It seemed to do nothing at all. Jacob dropped the clip and, barrel still smoking, reloaded and fired again, this time at the head of the monster, not at the chest. At the same time he helped the girl to her feet in the loose and shifty ash.

"Run!" he cried as he continued to fire. "Run and don't come back, no matter what!! Get to the ship and fly away!!"

The girl didn't move, staring into his eyes.

"GO!!!!"

Jacob hurled a grenade at the monster.... just as the girl kissed him.

The Heartless was knocked back, tripping and falling over. Shrapnel showered down around Jacob and the girl, much like a sort of willow tree's branches. The girl held the kiss, and Jacob, seeing that the Heartless had been knocked back, closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist. She in turn threw her arms around his neck. They stood there for a moment, before Jacob broke the kiss. The two, still holding each other, looked to the Heartless, which was getting to it's feet.

The two looked back into each other's eyes.

"I love you."

The girl's words were lost in the sound of the furious roar of the Heartless and the shout that came from Jacob. "GO NOW!!!!!!"

Jacob threw her off, and this time she obeyed him. She took off across the ash-laden field, leaving the fight behind her.

**The Shera's medical room...**

Kairi's eyes opened abruptly and she sat bolt upright in her bed. Sora almost fell off his stool in shock.

Kairi looked to Sora, her eyes full of confusion and worry.

"Where's Jacob?"

**In a large conference room...**

"I told you to kill him, not stun him!!" Grand Moff Tarkin shouted.

"I didn't know that my rife was set for stun!" Sienex lied. "Becides, now you can question him!"

"About what?!?"

Sienex smirked under his helmet. "So, Vader isn't letting you in on his plans?"

"And he's letting you in on them, is he? You're just a lowly Stormtrooper!!"

"You're breaking my Heart, Tarkin," Sienex said sarcastically. "But I don't have time for this. Vader wants me present at the boy's interrogation.

"What!?" Tarkin cried. Sienex simply shrugged and walked out the door, bursting into laughter moments later.

He marched down the hall for a moment before stepping into an elevator. He rode it for three floors before stepping out and walking down a dark hallway with a grated floor. He passed three identical doors before stepping into one room.

Jacob lay on a cot, wide awake and wearing a smile.

"Come to interrogate me?" he asked, sitting up.

"Negative," Sienex replied. "I'm here to watch. Lord Vader will be interrogating you."

The smile vanished from Jacob's face. Suddenly, the door opened and someone stepped in...

**I don't own the characters Tidus, Wakka and Selphie, nor do I own any of the Final Fantasy VIII party members. I don't own Adel or Ultimecia. I remembered that I forgot to say I don't own the girl Jacob is traveling with. You'll find out who it is sooner or later.**

**I don't own the people Jacob and the girl were with. I'm not telling who they were.**

**I'd say I own Kairi's adoptive mother, but I'm probably never even going to show her again. I don't know.**


	17. Coruscant

**Now we return to Star Wars: Episode One. I should be way further along in it.**

**Chapter 17: Corusant**

**Previously...**

**In Anakin's house...**

_"And he's free," Qui-Gon smiled._

_"What?!?" Anakin exclaimed in shock._

_"You are no longer a slave. Riku made a bet with Watto before the race started."_

**Out in the desert...**

_"Anakin! Drop!" _

_Anakin did as he was told just before a hover bike shot over him towards Qui-Gon. The man riding it jumped off and ignited a glowing blade, not hesitating one moment before advancing on the Jedi._

**Now we continue...**

**On the the Queen's ship...**

The group was sitting around in a small room on this ship. They had decided to take turns further explaining each of their individual adventures. Only Padme and Anakin were not present.

Riku started. "We don't really understand what a Jedi is."

"Ah. I believe we must start with an explanation of the Force," Qui-Gon started. "You see, the Force surrounds all living things. It gives us life, wisdom, energy... it is everywhere. The force's physical embodiment are called midi-chlorians. Midi-chlorians are microscopic life-forms that live in all living thing's cells. They whisper to us, telling us the will of the living force. There are some who have more midi-chlorians in their body that others. Those are gifted, and they can bend the Force to their will. The Force sharpens their senses, let's them see things before they happen."

"So Jedi are those who can bend the Force to their will?" Riku asked.

"More like Jedi follow the Force's will," Qui-Gon answered. "Do you have any more questions?"

"Well... not really," Riku said sheepishly.

Yuffie cut in. "You guys only gave us a summary of your quest back in Anakin's house. Tell us more about Naboo and why you're running."

"Well, you see, an organization called the Trade Federation has blockaded the entire world of Naboo," Obi-Wan answered. "The Galactic Republic tried to intervene by sending us to stop the blockade. Unfortunately, we were stopped when the Viceroy of the Trade Federation chickened out and attacked us. We fled to the surface of Naboo, which was consequently invaded by the Trade Federation's droid armies. After fleeing the planet with the few that were able to escape on this ship, our warp drive was damaged and... well, I think you know the rest."

"Now that our ship is repaired, we are flying to the capital of the Galactic Republic so that the Queen can present the crisis to the Senate and, hopefully, convince them to step in and help Naboo," Qui-Gon concluded.

"So, what about you guys?" Obi-Wan asked. "You must have a story."

"Not me," P.J. sighed. "I'm here by accident. Riku and Yuffie are the ones who've had adventures."

Now in the spotlight, Riku explained everything about his adventures with Sora. His temporary fall to Darkness, his quest to revive Sora's memories, and how he had defeated Xemnas alongside Sora. Then, very breifly, he explained about the attack of the Empire on Disney Castle and Radiant Garden. It was only while he said this that he remembered he may never find a way home again...

**In another room on the ship...**

Padme, dressed in her orange handmaiden robes, walked into the transmission room and pressed a button on the control panel. The holographic image of a man appeared.

"The death toll is catastrophic," the man said. "We must bow to their wishes! You must contact me!!" The recording cut short.

Padme bowed her head before turning to leave. Suddenly she noticed Anakin sitting at a table. He seemed to be shivering.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"It's very cold."

Padme grabbed a blanket of sorts that was draped over a nearby chair. She walked over and placed it on Anakin. "You come from a warm planet Anne," she said. "A little too warm for my tastes. Space is cold."

"You seem sad," Anakin more questioned than stated.

"The Queen is worried," Padme said. "Here people are suffering and dying. She must convince the Senate to help us or... I don't know what will happen."

Anakin reached into his pocket and pulled out a small square carving. It was very detailed, and must have taken a lot of time to make.

He handed it to Padme. "I made this for you," he said. "So you'd remember me. I carved it out of a Japor wood. It'll bring you good fortune."

"It's beautiful." Padme smiled. "But I don't need this to remember you by."

Neither of them spoke for a moment.

Finally Padme broke the silence. "Many things will change when we reach the capital Anne," she said. "... But my caring for you will remain."

"I care for you to... only I-"

"You miss your mother," Padme finished. Anakin nodded.

**Later...**

The ship blasted out of 'hyperspace', as everyone from this galaxy called it, and were soon flying through the atmosphere into a huge world. Criss-crossing golden patters covered the surface and so many ships flew through the space around them that it was a wonder no one crashed.

"Coruscant," the pilot, Ric Olie, said to Anakin and P.J.. "The entire planet is one big city." He pointed to a large landing platform. "That's Chancellor Valorum's shuttle."

"Isn't the Chancellor, like, the head hancho?" P.J. asked.

Anakin and Ric looked at him strangely before they both nodded. Ric turned back to piloting the ship. "Oh, and look," he added. "Senator Palpatine is waiting for us. He's the Senator from Naboo."

The ship docked on the large lading pad as two men surrounded by armed guards approached them. The Queen, her handmaidens, Jar-Jar, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Captain Panaka, Anakin, Riku, Yuffie and P.J. all piled out of the ship.

Senator Palpatine approached Queen Amidala. "It is a pleasure to see you alive, your Majesty. After the communications break down we've been very concerned. I am anxious to hear your report on the situation." He looked to the other man. "May I present Supreme Chancellor Valorum."

"Welcome, your Highness," the Chancellor said. "It is an honor to finally meet you in person."

"Thank you Chancellor," the Queen replied as the mass started walking across the lading platform.

"I should relay to you how distressed everyone is over the current situation. I've called for an emergency meeting of the Senate."

"Thank you for your concern, Chancellor."

To Riku, it just sounded like a bunch of robots going back and forth and back and forth. Still, he knew that lives were at stake here.

Anakin looked back to the ship for a moment. Obi-Wan and his master were lingering. After a moment the Chancellor walked over. Anakin couldn't make out what they were saying, but the rest of the group was leaving, so he ran off after them. He boarded a small shuttle behind the others. He sat down next to Yuffie and Riku just as the small ship detached from the dock and cruised off.

**In Senator Palpatine's apartment...**

Queen Amidala was in the middle of a meeting with the Senator of her world. The entire group was staying in his apartment for the duration of their stay on Coruscant.

"If I may be so bold, my lady, I think it is unlikely for the Senate to act upon our situation," Palpatine said.

"Chancellor Valorom seemed to think we had a chance," the Queen replied emotionlessly.

"I hate to say it so bluntly, my lady, but the Chancellor has no real power over the Senate. From my point of view, his control over anything has been slipping gradually in the past few Galactic Standard Months."

"He has been our strongest supporter. He wouldn't just stand down without trying to help us now that we are here," the Queen said, a bit of anger in her tone on the second sentence.

"Do as you wish, your Majesty, but I must warn you," Palpatine drawled. "The Senate does not act out of sympathy. The whole lot of them are blood-thirsty, power hungry brutes if you ask me."

"I don't ask you, Senator," the Queen said firmly.

"Very well," the Senator sighed. "The Senate meets tonight."

**Elsewhere...**

Riku wasn't at ease. Something about the apartment... something about Senator Palpatine... disturbed him.

He just couldn't put his finger on what it actually was.

"Riku! Come get a look at this!"

Riku felt his arm grabbed and was dragged over to a window overlooking the city.

"Isn't all this technology amazing?" Yuffie asked. "I remember a bit about Radiant Garden before it was ruined but it was nothing compared to this!"

Riku jerked his arm out of her grip and looked out at the city. "Yeah... amazing... you said it," he muttered unenthusiastically.

There was a moment of silence before Riku saw out the corner of his eye that Yuffie was reaching for his hand.

"Oh-man-Yuffie-look-at-the-time-I've-got-to-go."

Riku fast walked down the hall and out of sight, leaving a somewhat disheartened Yuffie behind.

"Dude... you are so tactless."

"Shut up, P.J.."

"Seriously, man! I think she digs you!"

"I said, shut up."

P.J. had watched the incident from a conjoining hallway and started lecturing Riku on girls the second they were out of earshot of Yuffie.

"Dude, I've never been able to get a girl! But Max, look where he came from! His dad's Goofy, and he still got one of the hottest girls in the town back on Disney Castle..."

His voice trailed off when Riku suddenly glared daggers through him.

"Hey Riku!"

Riku groaned inwardly as Yuffie ran up, her energy restored. "What did you have to do that was so important?"

"Er... I was going to find out where Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan went. I haven't seen them since the landing platform." This was true, at least. Riku was sort of curious as to where the two Jedi had run off to.

"I can answer that question."

Riku looked away from Yuffie to a negro man in a Naboo guard uniform. The group had been introduced to him earlier as Captain Panaka.

"The Jedi have gone to the Jedi Temple. The did not tell me the reason, but I assume it is to report to the Council."

"You're making my head hurt with all the details I don't understand," Riku said hotly. "How do I get there?"

**Later, at Jedi Temple...**

"The Council is holding a meeting," a man with a pony tail told Riku and Yuffie. Riku sighed and walked deeper into the temple.

"Why aren't we going back?" Yuffie asked.

"I'm gonna find some more about this galaxy," Riku muttered to her as a group of young Jedi walked past. "And I don't want to look anymore out of place here then we already do, so stop talking so loud."

"Why do you think you can find answers here?" Yuffie asked, this time with a sort of sarcastic reverence that annoyed Riku even more.

"I heard some Jedi near the entrance talking about archives," he replied quietly.

They walked around for a minute or two until they found it. It was massive, filled with glowing computer screens and strange blue book-resembling items.

"You take one computer," Riku said to Yuffie. "I'll take another. Just... try and clear up as much as you can about this place."

Riku sat down at a computer and suddenly realized that he could not read the language of this galaxy. He looked over to Yuffie and saw that she was experiencing similar problems.

"Do you require assistance?"

Riku and Yuffie both looked around for the source of the voice, but there was no one around them specifically. Riku looked back down the his computer... and a female head had appeared on the screen.

"Do you require assistance?" the voice asked from both of the computers again.

"Er... is this some sort of voice activation system?" Riku asked.

The head nodded.

"Yuffie... the head thing is voice activated," Riku said to her.

Yuffie nodded and started talking with her screen.

Riku looked down to his. "Do you have a data file on... Keyblades?"

"Do you have the authorization to access this file?"

Riku put a hand to his forehead. This galaxy knew about Keyblades. Or at least, the computer did.

"No, I don't," Riku said truthfully.

Riku would never understand why he said what he said next. All he knew was that he said it, and that in perhaps changed his, and the galaxy's, fate.

"Do you have a file on the world 'Destiny Islands'?"

"Yes."

**Dang..........**

**I'm not going to name names, so let's just say that I didn't put any OCs in, thus I don't own anything.**


	18. Politics Never Change

**Some of you will know that I skipped this chapter for a few months. For those of you... I'm back to this chapter! Finally! Go back and read the S/W Ep. 1 chapter that came before this one again, though. It'll help.**

** For those of you who didn't know any of that... just read.**

**Chapter 18: Politics Never Change**

** In the Jedi Archives...**

Riku stared at the computer for a moment. "What?" he asked.

"Would you like to look at our records for this world?" the computer asked.

"Uh... sure," Riku said uncertainly.

"Find something?" Yuffie asked.

"Yuffie, ask the computer if it has a file on Radiant Garden."

"Huh? Why?"

"Just do it," Riku replied as he looked back as his screen. The computer showed a map of the galaxy and zoomed in on a small, familiar, water-covered world.

"Destiny Islands is a small, remote world near the Outer Rim which has no contact with outside systems. The inhabitance of the world are all refugees from a large war that happened between several worlds in that system. Unknowing of their heritage, the citizens of Destiny Islands-"

"Riku!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Riku, there's a file on Radiant Garden! How did you know?"

"Ssshhh!" Riku hissed angrily. "Quiet!"

"- have spread out over most of the world, occupying several hundred small islands," the computer continued. "The capital is located on the largest island on the world, Illuawa. The island's founding just celebrated it's seventh annual centennial this year."

_"Seventh?"_ Riku asked himself. _"But... that means...." _

"Riku," Yuffie said quietly. "I think that worm hole sent us back in time!"

"Thirty two years exactly," Riku said.

"Uh... yeah, how did you know?"

"There's a file on Destiny Islands," her answered. "Said that the capital's seventh centennial was celebrated this year. That was thirty-two years ago." He raised an eyebrow at Yuffie. "How did you figure out that we were back in time?"

"A similar thing on Radiant Garden's history," Yuffie replied. "So we aren't in a different galaxy after all."

"Doesn't answer why they didn't know about gummi ships back on that desert world," Riku muttered.

"Maybe it just hasn't been discovered yet," Yuffie suggested.

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"Excuse me younglings, but you aren't Jedi, are you?"

The two looked up and saw an elderly woman who was obviously a librarian of sorts.

"No, we're not," Riku answered.

"Then I must request that you leave," the lady said quickly. "These archives are for the use of Jedi only."

"Sorry ma'am, we're going," Riku said, standing. He motioned for Yuffie to come along, and the two walked out of the archives.

The woman watched them walk away and then glanced at the computers. "Hmm. They seemed to know what they were looking for. But why such remote worlds...?"

**On the uppermost floor of the Jedi temple...**

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon stood in the middle of a small, circular room, surrounded on all sides by aliens in robes, all sitting in similar silver chairs. Four large windows showed the vast expanse of the world onside, the occasional ship jetting by every now and then.

"He was trained in the Jedi arts," Qui-Gon said. "My only conclusion is that it was... a Sith Lord."

"Impossible," said a man who appeared mostly human except for the exceedingly tall head. "The Sith have been extinct for a millennium."

"I do not think," a bald, negro human said, "... that they could have returned without the Jedi Council (he briefly gestured to himself and the others) being aware of it."

"Ah," said a small, green creature with long, elfish ears and fraying white hair. "Hard to see the Dark Side is."

"We will use all of our resources to unravel this mystery," the black man said. "We WILL discover the identity of your attacker... May the Force be with you."

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon gave short bows before Obi-Wan walked to the edge of the room and the exit... but his Master stayed.

"Master Qui-Gon," the green creature said. "_More_ to say, have you?"

Qui-Gon paused only for a moment before continuing. "With your permission, Master Yoda... I have encountered a... a disturbance in the Force."

Several of the jedi glanced at each other. The green man, Yoda, spoke again. "A... disturbance, you say?"

"Located around a person?" the black man further inquired.

"A boy, Master Windu," Qui-Gon continued. "His midi-chlorian level is of the highest concentration of any living being I have ever encountered. I believe that he was... conceived by the midi-chlorians."

".... You refer to the one who is prophesied to bring balance to the Force," Master Windu said. "You... believe it's this... boy?"

Qui-Gon started again. "I don't presume to-"

"But you do," Yoda said, cutting him off. "Revealed your opinion is."

"... I request that the boy be tested, Master."

Windu and Yoda exchanged brief glances before the human of the two sighed. "Then... bring him before us."

"Thank you, my Masters," Qui-Gon said, and, giving another bow, he walked our of the room, Obi-Wan quickly following.

**At the same time...**

Riku and Yuffie caught an air taxi of sorts like they had before and rode back to a huge apartment building, a floor of which was occupied by Palpatine. Riku was pretty sure that the driver had overcharged them, but at this point he didn't really care. If they really were in their own galaxy, then there was a chance of returning to their own time...

"Riku," Yuffie said suddenly as they entered the building. "Would you say that Destiny Islands was a particularly... romantic world?"

Riku suppressed a great, heavy, sarcastic sigh. "Yes, yes I would."

"... So... do you have a-"

"Girlfriend? No."

The boarded the elevator and Riku punched the number that would take them to the correct floor and they rocketed skyward. Riku stood with his back to the glass wrap-around window and facing towards the door, Yuffie standing behind him.

"If... you know, ever did want a woman in your life, what would they have to be like?"

"She'd have to be smart, witty, good with the house and kids, and she'd have to know when to shut up."

"Uh... really?"

"Oh, hell, Yuffie, I don't know."

There were a few moments of blissful silence for Riku before Yuffie started again. "My guy... would have to be really smart... and... brave... and handsome."

"That's your knight in shinning armor, huh?" Riku asked, uninterested.

"... Yeah."

Riku couldn't help but notice that her voice was filled with longing. Freaking _longing_.

"Then why aren't you going out with Leon or Sora?"

Yuffie laughed, almost nervously. "Uh, kinda out of my age range," she said matter-of-factly.

"I'm only a year older than Sora."

"Er..."

Riku slowly turned to face Yuffie. "So Yuffie... what is it that you find so interesting about me?"

Yuffie seemed taken aback by the sudden rebuttal of the teen, but she recovered with haste. "Er... Well... your... hair is... really cool."

Riku leaned over a bit so that his hair fell and he was eye to eye with Yuffie. "... My hair?"

"Well, yeah. You know... silver. Do you dye it?"

"No. I bleach it."

"Huh?"

"Sarcasm, Yuffie. It's naturally silver."

Yuffie was seriously starting to lose her comprehension of the situation. "Uh... cool. So... your mom's side or your dad's? That gave you the hair, that is. I mean, I know both of them gave you hair, but which had silver hair?"

At that moment the elevator stopped and the doors opened, at which point Riku swiftly spun on the balls of his feet and darted out of the elevator and off into the apartment, putting so much space between himself and the girl in seconds that it was scary.

Yuffie was so shocked that the doors almost closed again before she regained enough composure to step out.

**Later...**

Riku quickly took to avoiding Yuffie, which wasn't hard since the apartment was huge. He managed to do a bit of snooping in the process. Apparently Anakin was going to stay on this world to train as a Jedi, the Queen and Palpetine were heading to the Senate later to discuss Naboo's fate, and P.J. was extremely constipated.

Since Riku wasn't allowed in the Jedi Temple, wasn't allowed in the Senate, and he could have cared less about P.J., he was pretty much stuck wondering around the apartment. He had a few close calls with Yuffie, but he just dove out of sight into a bathroom or a closet.

_"Stupid,"_ Riku thought as he heard Yuffie walk past the sofa he was laying under. _"Why are you hiding from her? She's freaking desperate for you!..."_ Riku lay face down for a few moments._ "... Aarrrgg, too many emotions at once. Why is love so damn complicated?!?"_

"Uhhh.... dude, are you okay, man?"

Riku rolled his eyes before rolling out from under the sofa. "Fine, P.J.," Riku said, standing up. "Just fine." Riku glanced the dog over quickly. "I noticed you're not clutching your ass."

"I got some constipation pills," P.J. answered. "Boy, did that feel good..."

"Don't wanna hear this, don't wanna hear this..." Riku muttered as he scuttled off again.

As he turned a corner, he unfortunately scuttled into Yuffie.

"There you are!" Yuffie exclaimed. "I've been looking all over for you!"

_"Wow, she recovered from the elevator,"_ Riku thought.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

"Er... places."

"Places?"

"Places."

"... I think P.J. has some pills if you need them."

"..."

"What?"

"... Yuffie, I really just want to be alone right now."

"Well, maybe we could leave the apartment and get a bite to eat or something."

"We?"

"... Oooohhh, you meant alone from EVERYBODY."

Suddenly the Queen, Palpatine and Captian Panaka were approaching them from down the hall.

"Ah, good day, young ones," the Senator said. "We are departing for the Senate in order to plead Naboo's case."

"Senator Palpatine says that we do not have much of a chance," the Queen said, somewhat monotone. "I disagree."

"Would you like to come along, Riku?" Palpatine asked. "Get a look at how our government works?"

"Is... that allowed?" Riku asked.

"As long as you 'officially' come as the Queen's bodyguard," Panaka said.

"Uh... sure, I'd be honored," Riku said, giving a little smile.

"Well, then we must depart now," Palpatine said with a short nod.

The now foursome moved away from Yuffie and to the elevator again, leaving the apartment behind.

"Thanks for the rescue," Riku said as soon as the door closed.

"I sensed your unease, dear boy," the Senator said. "And I thought you would simply enjoy this meeting."

"All the same, I couldn't see anyway I could worm my way out of that one on my own."

**At the same time...**

Anakin stood in the center of the circular Council room, the Masters observing him. Windu held a small hand-held device that was every few seconds changing it's picture to that of a different vehicle. The screen was facing away from Anakin.

"... A ship," Anakin said. ".... Speeder.... A ship...."

Master Windu watched the screen as Anakin called out each vehicle perfectly. He turned off the device and nodded in Master Yoda's direction. The small man took up the reigns. "How feel you?"

"Cold, sir," Anakin answered truthfully.

"Afraid are you?"

"No, sir."

Yoda arched an eyebrow cryptically. "See through you, we can."

"Be mindful of your feelings," Windu added.

".... Your thoughts dwell on your mother," the man with the tall head stated.

"I miss her," Anakin replied.

"Afraid to lose her I think, hmm?" Yoda said.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Anakin asked, almost angrily.

"EVERYTHING," Yoda insisted. "Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." He paused and leaned back in his chair. "I sense much fear in you."

Anakin glanced past Yoda and out at the endless city of the planet and the orange sunset claiming it.

There was no going back.

**In the Senate Building...**

The senate auditorium consisted of a massive, somewhat oval shaped open chamber, the walls of which were lined with a number of flat, open-topped pods which released from the wall and floated about when the a senator or representative was speaking.

Palpatine, her majesty, Riku, and Captain Panaka were seated on a wrap-around couch of sorts that also served as a barrier for the edge of the pod. They waited for a few moments as the chatter amongst the people in the room died down and the meeting began.

Valorum, who was seated on a special platform of sorts which rose up out of the ground in the center of the auditorium, stood first and began to speak. "The chair recognizes the senator from the sovereign system of Naboo."

Palpatine stepped to the front of the pod and pressed a button, which caused the pod to move forward until it was directly in front of Valorum's. "Supreme Chancellor," Palpatine began before gesturing in a circular movement to the rest of the room, "delegates of the senate: a tragedy has occurred, which started right here with the taxation of trade routes and has now engulfed our entire planet in the oppression of the Trade Federation."

Another pod suddenly came forward, perhaps too abruptly. Riding it were representatives of the Trade Federation. "I object! This is outrageous!" exclaimed the one of them. "I object to the senator's statements!"

"The chair does not recognize the senator from the Trade Federation at this time, Viceroy." Chancellor Valorum stated harshly.

"To state our allegations," Palpatine continued shortly, "I present Queen Amidala, recently elected ruler of the Naboo, who speaks on our behalf."

Palpatine stepped back and took his seat on the pod while Amidala stepped to the front. "Honorable representatives of the Republic," she said, glancing around at the gathered masses, "I come to you under the gravest of circumstances. The Naboo system has been invaded by the droid armies of the Trade--"

"I object!" Nute Gunray shouted. "There is no proof! This is incredible. We recommend a commission be sent to Naboo to ascertain the truth!"

A third pod floated into the center, containing more senators. "The Congress of Malastare concurs with the honorable delegate from the Trade Federation," said one of the senators. "A commission must be appointed."

"The point--" Valorum began, but he was quickly cut off as one of his aides began whispering in his ear.

"Enter the bureaucrat." Palpatine whispered to Amidala. "The true rulers of the Republic. And on the payroll of the Trade Federation, I might add. This is where Chancellor Valorum's strength will disappear."

Riku couldn't help but smirk at his advice. "This is the best government system ever," he whispered to Panaka.

"Hey kid, no one likes it," the Captain whispered back.

"Except the bastards who are rolling in the cash every day because of other power hungry people like them," Riku said, pointing to Palpatine and the Trade Federation pod.

"I'm not saying I don't agree with you," Panaka said. "But if you've got a plan to fix this load of crap, call me."

Chancellor Valorum's voice filled the entire auditorium. "The point is conceded. Will you defer your motion to allow a commission to explore the validity of your accusation?"

"I will not defer!" Amidala suddenly exclaimed. "I've come before you to resolve the attack on our sovereignty _now_. I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die while you discuss this invasion in a committee!" Amidala took a deep breath. "If this body is not capable of action, I suggest new leadership is needed. I move for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum's leadership."

Riku's eyes widened. "Daaannnnnggg," he muttered. Good thing, he thought, that this government hadn't carried over to his present. He wondered how many Chancellors they went through a season if this was what they used as an excuse to chuck him out of office. But surely, no one would agree to the movement-

"Vote now! Vote now! Vote now! Vote now!"

The place was in absolute uproar. Riku suddenly felt like his eardrums might shatter.

Chancellor Valorum collapsed in his seat. One of his advisors stood up and shouted, "Order! We shall have order!"

Riku smirked. This was just funny to watch.

_"Man, I really hope I find a way out of here soon... What a mess..."_

So great was the chanting that he did not hear Palpatine whisper in the Queen's ear, "Now, they will elect a new Chancellor. A strong Chancellor. One who will not let our tragedy continue." He withdrew from her, leaving the Queen to ponder how great a mistake she had made by allowing herself to be used.

**At the Jedi Temple... **

Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, stood with Anakin before the Council. "The Force is strong with him," the Jedi with the tall head said.

"He is to be trained, then?" Qui-Gon asked hopefully.

"No," Mace Windu replied firmly. "He will not be trained."

Qui-Gon shifted. "... No?" he repeated.

"He is too old," Mace explained.

"He is the chosen one," Qui-Gon argued. "You must see it."

"Hmm..." Yoda drawled, his eyes closed. "Clouded, this boy's future is."

There was a long moment of silence before Qui-Gon stepped forward. "I will train him, then." Obi-Wan looked at him skeptically as his master placed his hands on Anakin's shoulders. "I take Anakin as my Padawan learner," he continued.

"An apprentice, you have, Qui-Gon," Yoda reminded him. "Impossible to take on a second."

"The code forbids it," Mace stated.

"Obi-Wan is ready," Qui-Gon countered.

"I am ready to face the trials," Obi-Wan told them. Perhaps to defend himself, perhaps to help Qui-Gon.

"Our own counsel will we keep on who is ready," Yoda said sharply, making Obi-Wan take a step back.

"He is headstrong," Qui-Gon said in a voice as though he was agreeing to something that had been stated, "and he has much to learn of the living Force, but... he is capable. There is little more he can learn from me."

Again there was another moment of silence before Yoda said, "Young Skywalker's fate will be decided later."

"Now is not the time for this," Mace agreed. "The senate is voting for a new Supreme Chancellor and Queen Amidala is returning home, which will put pressure on the Trade Federation and could widen the confrontation."

"And draw out the queen's attacker," the tall headed Jedi said.

"Go with the queen to Naboo and discover the identity of this dark warrior," Mace instructed Qui-Gon. "This is the clue we need to unravel the mystery of the Sith."

"Then we make our leave," Qui-Gon said.

"May the Force be with you." Yoda said.

**That evening, a bit later...**

While Riku had done his best to hide from Yuffie as soon as they returned, once she saw the Queen had come back, she sniffed him out and stuck to him like glue. Riku was still trying to work out if he should be flattered or worried.

_"Most likely the latter,"_ he thought to himself as Yuffie attempted to impress him by performing a handstand with only one finger. She was shortly bulldozed by P.J. who didn't look around the corner when he came in, squishing her very flat.

_"Yeah, the latter,"_ he muttered as P.J. started to babble about killing Yuffie and lowered to attempt C.P.R..

"Gha, P.J., you sicko!" Yuffie exclaimed as soon as the wind came back into her chest. She shoved the hefty dog off of her and hopped to her feet, brushing herself off. "Uhg, where was I, Riku?" she asked, turning his way.

He had bolted again.

She took off in his likely direction, and ran right past where he stood in the shadows behind a large potted plant. He quietly tip-toed off in the opposite direction, and noticed a door open. He peaked inside.

The Queen was alone in the room, the lights dim, her expression sad. She was gazing out over the planet, barely moving at all.

"Hey," a voice said softly from behind him.

He turned. It was Jar-Jar. "Oh, hi," Riku said simply.

The alien looked from Riku, to the Queen, and to Riku again. "You gonna say something to her?"

Riku glanced at her and shrugged. "Don't know what to say. Telling her that the government sucks won't help."

".... Mesa gonna try."

Jar-Jar stepped in before Riku could stop him, and all the teen could do was step in the doors as well behind Jar-Jar. The alien approached her quietly and stood next to her.

"... Yousa... Yousa thinking yousa people gonna die?"

"....... I don't know."

"Gungans get pasted too, eh?" he asked, chuckling.

"I hope not."

"Gungans no dyin' widout a fight," Jar-Jar said. "Wesa warriors. Wesa got a_ grand_ army. Dat's why you no liken us, mesa thinks."

"Your Highness!"

Riku whipped around as Captain Panaka and Senator Palpatine walk into the room. The Queen and Jar-Jar turned as well. "Your Highness," Panaka continued, ignoring both Riku and Jar-Jar's presence. "Senator Palpatine has been nominated to succeed Valorum as Supreme Chancellor."

"A surprise, to be sure," Palpatine added quickly, "but a welcome one. Your Majesty, if I am elected, I promise to put an end to corruption."

"Who else has been nominated?" Amidala asked.

"Bail Antilles of Alderaan and Ainlee Teem of Malastare." Panaka answered.

"I feel confident our situation will create a strong sympathy vote for us." Palpatine assured the queen. "I will be Chancellor."

"I fear by the time you have control of the bureaucrats, Senator, there'll be nothing left of our people... our way of life."

Palpatine looked grave at the queen's statement. "I understand your concern, Your Majesty. Unfortunately, the Federation has possession of our planet-"

"Senator, this is your arena. I feel I must return to mine."

Palpatine arched an eyebrow at her. "I've decided to go back to Naboo," the queen finished.

"Go back?" Palpatine repeated, suddenly worried. "But Your Majesty, be realistic. They'll force you to sign the treaty-!"

"I will sign to treaty, Senator," she replied sharply. "My fate will be no different than that of our people." She turned to Panaka. "Captain."

"Your Highness?" Panaka answered.

"Ready my ship." The Queen stormed out the door, Jar-Jar and Panaka following.

"Please, Your Majesty," Palpatine pressed as she walked past him, "stay here, where it's safe."

Amidala turned to face Palpatine again. "It is clear to me now that the Republic no longer functions. I pray you will bring sanity and compassion back to the senate." And she left.

Palpatine stood, dumfounded, not even noticing that Riku was still in his presence. The teen stepped out, the Senator still not seeming to notice him.

_"F***ing, power-hungry whore,"_ Riku thought as he turned into another hallway and Palpatine vanished from sight. Had Riku lingered, he would have seen the Senator's body begin to seep with Darkness...

**On the take-off platform...**

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan arrived on the dock as the Queen's servants loaded either cargo or themselves onto the ship. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan argued quietly to the side, trying not to attract attention to themselves.

"It's not disrespect, Master, it's the truth," Obi-Wan insisted.

"From your point of view," Qui-Gon replied mildly.

"The boy is dangerous," Obi-Wan insisted. "They all sense it. Why can't you?"

"His fate is uncertain," Qui-Gon reminded him. "He's not dangerous. The Council will decide Anakin's future. That should be enough for you. Now get on board."

Obi-Wan hesitated for only a moment before following his master's wishes and boarding the ship.

But shortly, Qui-Gon had someone else to talk with.

"Qui-Gon, sir," Anakin suddenly said, "I don't want to be a problem."

"You won't be, Anne," Qui-Gon said with a small smile, kneeling down to look him in the eye. "I'm not allowed to train you, so I want you to watch me and be mindful. Always remember, your focus determines your reality. Stay close to me and you'll be safe."

"Master, sir, I hard Yoda talking about midi-chlorians. I've been wondering... what are midi-chlorians?"

"....... Midi-chlorians are a microscopic life-form that resides within all living cells," Qui-Gon explained.

"... They... live inside me?" Anakin asked.

"Inside your cells, yes," Qui-Gon replied. "And we are symbionts with them."

"Symbionts?"

"Life-forms living together for mutual advantage," Qui-Gon defined. "Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force. When you learn to quiet your mind, you'll hear them speaking to you."

"I... don't understand." Anakin said.

"With time and training, Anne, you will. You will."

As Anakin boarded the ship, Queen Amidala, Riku, Panaka, a few other guards, and a bit behind them, Yuffie and P.J. were walking towards the ship. Qui-Gon joined their group. "Your Majesty, it is our pleasure to serve and protect you."

"I welcome your help." Amidala replied. "Senator Palpatine fears that the Federation means to destroy me."

"I assure you, I will not allow that to happen," Qui-Gon promised.

It was quite clear to Riku at this point that they were departing to fight a war. It wasn't going to be easy, but at least it wasn't a political war anymore. Down to the nitty and gritty, that was how he liked it anyway.

And hopefully a stray bullet or laser or whatever would take out Yuffie before she took him out.

**And off we march to war. Check my news section for the date on the 'Battle of Naboo' chapter release. **


	19. Strange Happenings

**Back to Sora and his group.**

**Chapter 19: Strange Happenings**

**Previously...**

_Kairi has been having strange dreams. It started when she and the others met Jacob. Since then, both she and Sora have had several strange dreams about Jacob and a mysterious traveling companion, Kairi's uncle, and a strange group of warriors, which Leon was a member of._

**On the Shera...**

Kairi was in her room. After Sora and the others had helped her up and out of the medical ward, she had collapsed onto her bed and fallen asleep again. Before that she had incessantly asked where Jacob was, and insisted that she needed to talk to him. She seemed to be in some sort of trance and hadn't recognized the presence of anyone but Sora, and even toward him she didn't seem able to comprehend the fact that they weren't both four years old and living on Radiant Garden.

For starters, she kept talking like she was four years old; her vocabulary and pronunciation had deteriorated dramatically. And, while she still talked to Sora like he was a well known friend, it was apparent that she believed he was a resident of Radiant Garden. Sora tried to make her come to her senses, but she continued to insist that he take her to Jacob and let her talk with him.

Once she was asleep again, Sora only felt it right that he stay with her as he had done in the ward. Once again, his friends gave him privacy.

"It was really weird," Donald quacked as the group sat down for dinner. "Kairi was acting like some sort of zombie!"

Most of the others frowned. "Do you think that Jacob... actually did something to her to make her act like this?" Tifa asked.

"He's got no reason to," Cid said.

"Maybe some day you people will actually listen to me," Merlin sighed. "She's _traumatized_. No one knows what's happening in her mind right now, not even her. There is no way of predicting when she will come out, or if she will come out at all."

"So what you're saying is that we're down a Princess of Heart." Leon scowled. "I don't like it. We already lost that Alice girl and now Kairi. I feel almost like..." Suddenly, he sat bolt upright and his eyes widened. "I... I've got it." Then he looked worried. "Oh crap... Sora!"

Before any one could as just what he had, he was up from the table and out of the room.

"What about Sora?" Goofy asked no one in particular. "I thought we was talking about Kairi."

"Oh my!!" Merlin suddenly exclaimed. "That's what he meant!" He stood and poofed away.

"What... the... HELL?!?!?" Cid yelled.

**The corridors of the Shera...**

Leon ran down the hall as fast has he could. Hopefully it wouldn't be too late. Sora had only been alone with her for...

_"Two hours,"_ he thought angrily. _"That's more than enough time."_

He sped up. He wasn't going to make it. It was going to be too late...

"Leon, stop."

Leon bumped right into Merlin.

"It's too late. He got them."

**Somewhere else...**

The last thing Sora remembered was suddenly feeling very drowsy and laying down next to Kairi.

Now he had no idea where he was.

He was standing outside of a huge castle, dark and forboading in design. Lightning cracked through the air, lighting the night. A strong wind rushed against Sora, threatening to knock him over. A soaking rain poured down on him, his spiky hair suddenly becoming so heavy that fell flat on his head.

Sora stood in one place, even among all these things. His mind was blissfully blank, accept for one command: _enter the castle_.

Sora smiled broadly and walked toward the huge castle, oblivious to the fact that thousands of Neoshadow Heartless were spawning around him. His eyes stared with deepest interest towards the doors of the castle, which were now opening wide to welcome him in. He walked forward until he had passed through the threshold of the doors, which closed automatically behind him, baring the Heartless's entry.

Sora stood in the dark, damp entry hall for a moment, water dripping steadily to the cold stone floor, when another command entered his mind: _up the stairs_.

Sora obediently walked up the long, wide, twisting flight of steps. Up and up the stairs reached, never seeming to end. He passed floor after floor after floor... if his mind had been functioning properly, he would have soon lost count anyway. For almost thirty minutes he climbed, becoming more and more tired with every step. But it didn't matter. _Up the stairs_. That was all there was.

Higher and higher... step after step... once Sora heard the sound of an organ somewhere in the distance, right after he passed the 703th floor...

_Up the stairs_... _up the stairs_... _up the stairs_... _up the stairs_...

_Stop_.

Sora halted his movement at the last step. His legs felt like jell-o, and he almost toppled over. But he had not been commanded to topple over, so he stayed stationary.

_Turn left_.

Sora did so. Now he was facing down a long, dark corridor.

_Walk_.

Sora kept moving. He walked straight into the darkness, and his vision became more and more obscured, until at last it was pitch black. And still he walked on. He walked and walked until he had been walking longer than it took to walk all the way up the stairs. And finally, he could see a tiny window of light in the distance. A yellow, flickering light, but still a light.

Sora continued to walk, his mind slowly becoming sharper, more aquatinted with his surroundings. The feeling of empty bliss was disappearing a bit, and he was starting to wander just where he was, and why his legs were so tired...

_Run_.

Sora obeyed. He broke into a jog, then a run, until the light grew into a door. And inside the door he could see a flickering fireplace and three chairs, two with their backs to him.

Then who was the man sitting in the chair he could see...?

_Don't ask questions_.

Sora stepped through the door, which closed behind him.

_Sit_.

Sora walked forward and sat down in the only unoccupied chair.

_Relax_.

This command seemed to bring back some of Sora's free will. The tiredness in his legs seemed to have spread it's self all throughout Sora, making him feel presently drowsy. He sank into his squashy armchair and gave a great, tired sigh. A somewhat childish bemusement took him over as he looked around the room.

The room was very small, filled only by a small shelf of books, a fireplace, and the three chairs. In the chair across from him sat a man in a blood red cloak with wavy blond hair and dazzling blue eyes. It the other chair sat Kairi, her eyes half open and her hair falling over her face. Her mouth hung open and her body was slumped over in the chair, threatening to slip right off.

"Awaken," the man said.

Kairi blinked a few times and slowly pushed herself upright in the chair. She looked confused as she brushed her hair out of the way, and started to stand up.

"Relax."

Kairi fell back into the chair, sinking into the cushion of the armchair, smiling happily. Her eyes closed a bit again, looking as though she may very well fall asleep. She looked over at Sora and, recognizing him, giggled feebly. Sora smiled back, though he didn't understand what was funny. It didn't matter though. He was too tired to think straight.

"Well, It's good to finally meet you in person," the man said happily. "Allow me to introduce myself: Noir."

Sora and Kairi both smiled tiredly up at him.

"I should tell you that you are not actually here yet," Noir said, standing up. "You see, I can enter minds. Not mind reading. A mind is not simple enough to be read. But I can induce visions. Of the past... the future... the present." Noir paused. "If I remain in someone's mind for long enough, I can even bring their body to me. You two haven't been under my control for quite long enough for me to summon your bodies, but for the moment, I am content with your spirits."

Sora and Kairi continued to smile up at him, their minds trying fruitlessly to regain control.

"Oh, why do I waste my time," Noir sighed. "I could never explain something like this and expect two little children to understand..."

The moment Noir said that, Sora and Kairi indeed started feeling like children. Their tiredness was more absolute, threatening to swallow them whole. A tired curiosity enveloped them as their minds seemed to forget things they had learned. Their memories slowly dropped out of reach, and even their bodies seemed to be in rewind...

Within a matter of seconds Sora and Kairi had been reduced to the four year olds they once were, sitting in their chairs feeling drowsy enough to sleep for a day if left undesturbed. Noir smiled and picked up... a music box.

"You've heard of lullabies, of course," Noir said, though it was not clear why. Sora and Kairi were far too tired to take any notice of him. "I'm sure your parents on Destiny Islands sing them to you. But, since you, Kairi, lost your memories of Radiant Garden, and you, Sora, never met your real parents..."

He held the box aloft. "A true lullaby is written by one's biological parents shortly after their birth. It induces a deep sleep that can last as long as fourteen hours even when a heard of elephants comes marching by. The sleep it causes is almost like a trance. It should speed you on your way here." He opened the box. "It's covenant that you have the same lulluby. Sweet dreams. Hope your actual bodies get here soon."

A sweet, soft, relaxing tune filled the room. Both Sora and Kairi felt that the song was eerily familiar. But where had the heard it before? They had to listen more closely. They had to.

They had... to....

They....

They......

... Slept.

**Elsewhere...**

Jacob was thrown against the hard wall of his cell by Sienex. Granted, this was better than being tortured by Lord Vader, but it was still painful.

"Ready to tell us anything yet?" Sienex asked smugly.

"Isn't that the tenth time you've asked me that?" Jacob asked, trying to hide any signs of pain. "What makes you think I'll talk after what Vader did to me?"

Sienex grabbed Jacob's shirt and hurled him across the cell against the other wall. "Come now, you've got to be tiring of this. Aren't you going to tell us where it is?"

Jacob didn't reply.

"If you don't tell us, Noir will find it any way. And after that, we've still got plenty more questions to ask you."

Still silence.

"You really want us to destroy Radiant Garden? Kairi? You can't want that."

"Go (Jacob said something very much R-Rated) yourself."

Sienex kicked Jacob hard in the crotch and slammed his head against the wall repeatedly before letting him slump onto the ground. "You first," Sienex laughed. "I'll be seeing you, then."

The door to the cell opened and Sienex moved to step out... and Jacob kicked him in the back.

Sienex flew into the two Stormtroopers waiting outside and the three hit the ground.

Jacob rushed out and picked up a gun. He shot the two troopers and kicked Sienex into his cell, the door to which closed and locked him it.

"Prisoner escaping!! Prisoner esca-!"

Jacob shot the guard running down the hall and charged down the prison block, blasting away two more Stormtroopers that ran in from the control center. He blew up the control panel and shot the cameras to kingdom come. One more guard jumped out from behind a computer, but Jacob hurled a knife right into his neck before he could fire a singe shot.

Jacob grabbed the knife and ran up to an elevator. He mashed down on the button continuously until the elevator arrived. He shot the Stormtroopers inside stepped in. He pressed the button for 'Central Block' and doors closed and the elevator rocketed away.

Jacob grabbed a bomb off of the belt of one trooper and held it at the ready.

'Ding'.

The doors opened on a large, open area crawling with Stormtrooper, officers, and robots. Jacob hurled the bomb and kicked the 'Close Door' button. The doors sealed, but he still heard the explosion through the door. Jacob hit the 'Supply Dock 278' button and the elevator moved away again.

This time he got out. The room only had a few Stormtroopers in it, and Jacob blasted them away with ease before running across the large room (more like a warehouse) to another elevator. He got on and set it for 'Loading Dock 28473'.

The doors opened again a moment later and he charged forward into a hanger filled with TIE Fighters. Stormtroopers took notice and fired at him, but Jacob ducked behind some strangely colored crates and hurled another bomb at them. After the noise of the explosion issued, he jumped up and ran across the hanger to a TIE Fighter. He started to climb up a ladder to the cockpit... when the ladder was pulled out from below him.

Jacob fell to the ground but got to his feet again and turned around...

"You passed," Sienex said.

"What?" Jacob asked angrily. "It was a test?!?"

"Quite." Sienex smirked under his helmet. "We wanted to test the security, and you were the perfect advisory."

"Hmm. I'd say that you're security isn't quite... how should I put it...? Anywhere near good enough."

"Luckily," Sienex growled. "This was only a test."

"Oh, so are you saying that those Stormtroopers I killed weren't real? And how I blew up the Central Block wasn't real?"

"We suffered some casualties, but-"

"So, is the gun in my hand right now not real?"

_Ca-chunk_.

"Oh, of course gun is real," Sienex said. "As are the turrets outside of this hanger, and the five Stormtroopers surrounding us right now."

Jacob had completely overlooked the fact that Sienex had brought reinforcements. And there _were_ turrets outside, which meant he wouldn't have gotten very far anyway.

"Meh. Whatever."

BAM!!

Jacob put a round through Sienex's shoulder.

Stun blasts from the surrounding Stormtroopers hit Jacob squarely in the chest and he blacked out.

_"Perfect."_

**On the Shera...**

The group stood around Sora and Kairi's bodies. Every moment, they seemed to fade further away... become more and more transparent...

"What's happening to them?" Max asked.

"No idea," Merlin and Leon said a bit too quickly.

"Really?" Cid asked. "That's why you two took off? You didn't know what was happening?"

"Okay, how about this?" Leon said in a sarcastically polite voice. "If we told you, we would have to kill you."

"Guys, look!" Tifa yelled suddenly.

Sora and Kairi's bodies were re-matirializing before their eyes, becoming more and more solid with each passing second. It was as thought he process had been reversed.

Soon, the two were fully solid, sleeping peacefully. Then Max noticed it. Kairi was clutching a letter in her right hand.

Leon noticed too. He snatched it up before anyone else could reach it. It read:

_The next gate is at the Pride Lands. Sora already opened it._

_You know what happened to Sora and Kairi. Don't let anyone else know._

_Protect my secret. Protect Kairi._

_Jacob._

**.......................... I'm just as confused as you are............ that means it worked. If I can confuse myself when I'm the author, then my readers are bound to be confused. **


	20. The Battle of Naboo

**Another shortened chapter. Sorry about this, guys.**

**Chapter 20: The Battle of Naboo**

_The group returns to Naboo. Jar-Jar gets help from the others of his kind and they prepare a diversion. Everyone else attacks the royal palace._

_After getting to the hanger, ships are launched to attack the enemy capital ships, which, if destroyed, would shut down all the battle droids (enemy soldiers)._

_Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Riku engage the tattooed man, and Qui-Gon is killed. Riku is knocked out and Obi-Wan kills the man._

_Naboo is retaken and the Viceroy of the Trade Federation is taken into custody. Riku senses Darkness around Palpatine._

_Riku, Yuffie, and P.J. leave the world and fly through another worm hole on Master Yoda's advice._


	21. Unanswered Questions, Unsolved Mysteries

**Okay, we now start on our second to last loop in this story. This chapter is somewhat slow, but it'll give you a chance to try and peace some of the peaces together that I've left for you over the last few chapters. In other words, it will give you another look at a bunch of all the hints I've dropped in past chapters.**

**Chapter 21: Unanswered Questions, Unsolved Mysteries**

**Previously...**

**On the Shera...**

_"If we can find the world where the Imperials are coming from, we could try and stop them," Sora said. "Or we could just find some people that hate the Imperials as much as we do."_

**Also on the Shera...**

_"It's too late. He got them," Merlin said to Leon._

**In a dark castle...**

_Sora and Kairi sat in chairs before Noir, their expressions relaxed and somewhat blank._

**On the Shera...**

_Suddenly Sora and Kairi's bodies faded back in, and in Kairi's hand was a letter. Leon snatched it up. It read:_

_The next gate is at the Pride Lands. Sora already opened it._

_You know what happened to Sora and Kairi. Don't let anyone else know._

_Protect my secret. Protect Kairi._

_Jacob._

**Now we continue...**

**On the Shera...**

Sora and Kairi stirred simultaneously. Leon and Merlin straightened in their seats and waited.

But nothing happened. Sora and Kairi continued to sleep peacefully.

"This isn't good," Leon said to Merlin. "Noir could come back for them any time now. Even if they aren't in a trance anymore, he could be feeding them more dreams."

"There's nothing I can do," Merlin said regretfully. "We've just got to hope that Jacob is holding him off."

Cid's voice suddenly sounded throughout the ship: "The ship is approaching the Pride Lands. We're going to start scanning for paths as soon as we can, but it sure would be helpful if _two certain people could answer a few simple questions_."

Leon sighed. "We're going to have to tell them soon anyway."

"We keep our oath of silence while we can, Leon," Merlin said. "You know what's at stake here."

"Look, there's no way we can avoid it. Kairi is-"

"AAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!"

Sora flung himself bolt upright on the bed, wide awake. His eyes were wide open and filled with fear. Cold sweat poured down his face that had not been there a moment before. He was hyperventilating so bad it seemed he would black out any second. All color was drained from his skin.

"S.... so....... song....... a-dop....... tive........ pa.... parents......... true..... parents..... true...... Noir..... castle........ lulluby..... lu....llu...by.......... parents........ mem....... ories..... Radiant Ga..r.....den...... Ja.... cob..... Ka.... Kairi........ memories..... lost...... memories....... mem..... ories of ....... memories........ Kairi's memories...... strongest...... memories........ Kairi... strongest...... parents......... Riku......... l.... lost...... paren..... ts.... found................ find...... memories.... fou.... found... founded..... Garden....... Radiant....... Destiny Islands.... se..... cr..... et....... pla... place....... parents..... secret....... never................. there..... secret..... never......"

Leon had started to stand, but Merlin stopped him. "There is nothing you can do," he said. "Sora has entered a Super Conscience."

"Super Conscience?" Leon asked angrily, looking rapidly between Merlin and Sora. "That means that he could find out about-!"

"Fear not," Merlin said, standing up. "I may not stand a chance against Noir's magic, but... ha! A Super Conscience! The one thing he could to give me an opening... And once Sora is revived I think there is help for Ms. Kairi..." Merlin reached into his beard. "I know it's in here somewhere... No, not you..." (he threw out a loaf of bread) ".... Oh, that's where that went!" (he tossed out Pooh Bear's Story Book) "....OWCH!!!" (he withdrew his hand, revealing that a rat had bitten his middle finger. He shook the rat off and continued) "No, not in there..... Ah!..... No, that's just yesterday's lunch..." (he pulled out a long carrot stick) "Oh, dash it all, where did I put that confounded wand?"

"Er... should I help look for it? Noir could change tactics any time," Leon said awkwardly, looking to Sora, who was still muttering.

"Sir, the nerve of you!" Merlin exclaimed hotly. "I assume I know my own beard better than anyone else!"

Leon reached into Merlin's pointy white beard and pulled out the wand.

"Oh.... thank you, Leon," Merlin mumbled as he took the wand from Leon's hand. Then he looked to Sora and pointed the wand. "Confusing condemnations, illuminating illusions! I banish you back with your wicked intentions!"

Sora stopped muttering. His head fell a bit, and he blinked rapidly a few times. His breathing rate returned to normal.

"What..... what the heck just.....?"

"Sora, my lad, you needn't ask questions now. You've been through quite the ordeal," Merlin said, walking over. Sora looked up at him. "I'll ask you three favors and leave you in peace. First: You're friend Ms. Kairi needs awakening."

Sora looked to his side at Kairi, then looked back to Merlin. "How exactly do I do that?"

"Well, it's quite simple actually," Merlin said. "You've got to lock her mind with your Keyblade."

"Er... lock her mind?" Sora asked.

"I'll explain things in a while, boy, but you must do as I say. And with haste!"

Sora could only nod and stand up. He lifted his hand and the _Kingdom Key_ appeared in it as it had countless times before. He looked down and Kairi and pointed his Keyblade at her temple.

Glowing stars spun around the tip of the Keyblade, spinning faster and faster until a beam of light shot right out of the Keyblade and through Kairi's forehead, at which Sora jumped. The 'click' sound of a lock issued, the lights died, and Kairi's eyes opened.

"S.. Sora? What's going on?"

"My second favor, Sora," Merlin said, ignoring Kairi for the moment. "How much do you remember?"

"Remember? About what?" Kairi asked. "The dream?"

"The one with Noir?" Sora looked at Kairi. "You had it too?"

"Boy, listen!" Merlin cut in. "You've got to tell us what Noir said to you in your dream!"

"Uh.... I don't know," Sora said, scratching the back of his head. "He didn't really tell us much.... accept for..." His eyes widened. "That... that I'd never met my real parents..."

Kairi sat up. "Does he mean you're adopted?"

"Well, how should I know?!" Sora snapped. He took a moment. "I mean... my parents never said anything..."

"Well, you always said there wasn't any resemblance," Kairi said, trying to lighten the strange, awkward mood that had suddenly fallen. No one spoke again before...

"Anything else?" Merlin asked.

"Something about... lullabies," Kairi replied. "I don't remember the details though. Sora?"

Sora shook his head shortly. He was staring fixedly into space, his expression blank. "Who was Noir, anyway? I had another dream about him."

"You did?" Leon asked.

"Yeah. Him and Jacob. They were fighting in this.... big, dark room." Sora frowned as he finished. "I had it when I was in status back on that other world." He looked at Merlin and Leon. "What was that place anyway?"

Merlin and Leon both paled. "Er... how should we know?" Merlin asked vaguely. "We're not master explorers like you, you know..." Merlin suddenly became very interested in straitening his beard and Leon started to walk towards the door.

"You guys know something," Sora growled.

"Well, if we do, what does it matter?" Merlin asked. "And who's to say we'd tell you that Kairi's uncle wanted the crown before Jacob killed him? If we did know?"

"Merlin, you really are a Disney character, aren't you?" Leon groaned, putting a hand to his forehead. "Clear off before you tell them anything else they aren't supposed to know."

"Why, I aught to.... you.... sir, I!..... Fair well, then." And so Merlin marched out the door with what little dignity he could summon.

"Kairi's uncle wants to kill her?" Sora asked Leon the second Merlin was out the door. "Why?"

"And how did you know Jacob killed him?" Kairi inquired, her voice raising.

Leon looked furious with Merlin. "Kairi, you've got to hear me out," he said. "There are some things you and Sora just can't know. Some day... probably soon, it will be the right time. I swear to you that we'll explain everything... just not yet." Leon paused. "And... we'll have to ask you not to tell anyone what you've seen in your dreams or what we've just said to you."

"Have you had dreams too?" Sora asked Kairi. "I only had the one in status and this one with Noir." Sora did a double take. "What do you mean we can't tell anyone?!?"

"Exactly that."

"Leon, I..." Kairi stopped and though for a moment. "I, as the Princess of Radiant Garden, order you to disclose the information you are withholding from us."

"Ooooo, fancy speak!" Sora smiled despite the situation.

"Sorry Kairi, I still can't tell you anything," Leon said. "I'm under higher orders."

"Well that's just brilliant," Kairi sighed.

"What was the third favor?" Sora asked.

"Your silence, which I just asked for," Leon answered. "Now, before you woke up we received a message from Jacob."

"Jacob?! He's alive?!? He's one tough cookie!!" Sora exclaimed.

"We received a message from Jacob," Leon said angrily. "It said that there is another pathway open at the Pride Lands."

"Oh, yeah," Sora muttered. "I did open a gate... but then Twilight Town showed back up on the scanners and we flew there without bothering with the new path..."

"Cid announced that we were there a few minutes ago," Leon said. "Let's go."

The three of them walked out of the room, Leon taking the lead, without another word.

**On the bridge...**

After a few of hugs from Donald and Goofy insuring that Sora and Kairi were indeed awake, Cid announced to everyone that the new world was in such close proximity with Pride Lands that they wouldn't even need to utilize warp drive to reach their destination.

"All right, then let's get this show on the road," Leon ordered.

Cid pushed the Shera to a cruising speed and they set out.

**Several minutes later...**

Sora was the first to spot it. "Off the left side! I see the world!!" he exclaimed.

"Great, kid!" Cid said. "But just remember, on a ship, port means left, so say that instead."

"Guys, what's all that? Something's going on above the world." Max pointed to what vaguely resembled red and green fireworks flying about, originating from two spawn points and hurling it's self at the opposing color's point of origin.

"Weird," Cid commented. "Let's take a closer look."

The Shera continued to approach the world, and it was only a few moments before they identified the source of the lights.

An Imperial Star Destroyer was blasting away at a much, much smaller ship. Their victim was putting up a very meager fight to say the least.

That was enough for the Shera's crew though.

"The IMPERIALS!!!!!!" Donald squawked.

"Someone's FIGHTING them!!" Kairi exclaimed.

"We've got to HELP!!" Sora yelled, pressing himself against the glass wrap around window of the bridge.

"Will you guys shut UP?!?" Cid yelled. "That Star Destroyer is packing HEAT, guys!"

"Says the man who was able to avoid four Star Destroyers working together," Tifa said. "What's the matter, Cid? Chickening out?"

"LET'S GO KICK SOME STAR DESTROYER BUTT!!!!!"

The ship jolted as Cid cranked up the speed to emergency full and almost everyone toppled over.

"You see?" Tifa said to Max, who was laying on the ground near her. "All he needs is the proper motivation."

Cid's hands were flying, pressing almost every button within reach. And a few moments later, missiles and lasers and harpoons... any weapon you can imagine... was flying past the ship and towards the Star Destroyer.

Everything that happened next was far too fast to be real, yet it was.

Explosions issued from the Star Destroyer just as it re-directed half of it's cannons at the Shera. Cid took evasive maneuvers and swung the ship around behind the Star Destroyer and closer to the world. The small ship the Imperials had been shooting at suddenly stopped fighting and was pulled under the Star Destroyer and into a hanger. The Star Destroyer turned around and released all it's firepower upon the Shera. Caught in point-blank fire, Cid boosted the ship underneath the Star Destroyer and out from under the front. Then, suddenly, three more ships jumped out of warp drive.

They were both Star Destroyers.

"Dammit!!" Cid exclaimed. "This is too much!!!"

"Wait!" Leon yelled. "We've got to get to the world's surface!!"

"And why in this galaxy should we want to do that?" Cid glared at Leon.

"We wanted to find a resistance against the Empire, didn't we?" Sora asked. "This may be our chance! Those people were fighting!"

"Yeah, but for all we know, they could be from worlds and worlds away from here!" Cid retorted quickly as the new Star Destroyers started firing.

"Look, just teleport me and Kairi down, we'll check it out!" Sora insisted. "Go and wait somewhere, anywhere! Beast's Castle, maybe! We'll try and find a ship and come meet you! Just go!!"

There was silence broken only by the continues stream of attack from the Star Destroyers before Cid said, "You're insane, aren't you Sora?"

Sora ignored him and motioned for Kairi to follow him. The two stepped into the teleportation chamber. "Send us down," Sora said. Cid sighed and pressed the button. Sora and Kairi disappeared in a flash of blue light before Cid turned the ship around and blasted away. So quick was his retreat that they didn't see a small escape pod leaving the smaller ship that had already been captured...

**On the surface...**

Sora and Kairi were standing in the middle of an massive desert. In every direction there was nothing but endlessly shifting sand dunes. Twin suns blazed down upon them. Sora suddenly had a sense of deja vu.

Kairi, however, was observing their surroundings more closely. "The suns are on the horizon," she said. "It's either day break or almost twilight. Whichever it is, we'll need to find a place to rest."

Sora nodded and pointed to a particularly high sand dune. "We'll climb that and see if there's a settlement anywhere near."

The two stumbled and slid their way back down the dune several times before they got their sand legs and reached the top. After a quick scan of the horizon Sora spotted a large rocky valley in the distance.

"We could find shelter there," Sora said. "Come on, let's go."

**After almost an hour of hiking across the desert...**

The two suns had set, now replaced by three moons. Sora and Kairi had reached the valley and had an idea.

Not liking the cold darkness of the valley, they climbed to the top and sat on the heated rocks in the cool air, creating the prefect combo.

Soon they were both flat on their backs and admiring the starry night.

"So, every single one of them has a world, huh?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah. I don't think anyone has ever seen them all," Sora replied.

"No one ever will," Kairi said.

They paused for a moment.

"Kairi?" Sora looked at her. "After this... are you going to go back to Radiant Garden? You're the Princess, after all."

Kairi bit her lip. "I've been thinking about that," she said. "I just don't know. Destiny Islands is my home now. Well..." She smiled, still looking to the sky. "Wherever you and Riku are is my home."

Still more silence.

"Kairi, what's our goal?"

"Eh?"

"I mean, what are we doing? My first adventure... well, both of my adventures, I was trying to find my friends. Granted, I was going up against the Organization and Xehanort' Heatless as well, but my driving force was always the thought of seeing you guys again. Now what is it?"

Kairi thought. "Maybe... finding someone to help us fight the Empire? So we can free Radiant Garden and Disney Castle? Or finding Riku again?"

"That's what I thought at first," Sora said. "But... well, let me put it this way. On my past two adventures, I felt like the hero."

Kairi giggled.

"I.. I don't mean it like that. I just..." Sora stopped to think as well. "I felt like I was the one. You know, killing Heartless, doing the saving... the Organization's plans revolved around me... It's not like that anymore. It's like someone is directing me from the shadows. Like I'm not even in control of myself. Like... Like someone else is saving the galaxy, and I'm being used."

"I kinda got the same felling," Kairi said. "Like we were in the background of this whole deal. Supporting characters."

"But if we aren't the heros, then who is?" Sora asked.

"I dunno," Kairi muttered. "Riku? Jacob?"

"Jacob... who the heck is he?"

"I really don't know." Kairi sighed. "I just wish I could remember my life on Radiant Garden. I might have some answers."

"Well, you said you had dreams. Let's see if we can't peace them together with what we've seen in the real world."

Kairi looked tilted her head to the side and looked at Sora. "I don't think it will be much use."

Sora sat up. "Let's try, though."

Kairi sat up, too. "Okay... the first dream was when I collapsed in Radiant Garden. I don't remember much of it now, but..." Kairi thought. "... Part of it was Jacob and Ansem the Wise talking about my grandmother. They said she was going to die. Why... they didn't say. The rest of that one is still all mixed up and weird."

"I had one just a bit ago... the last thing I remember before it was killing those three Stormtroopers..." She shuddered. "It was a nightmare at first. Then I dreamed about the day I first showed up on the Islands. When you found me on the beach."

"Then I saw my uncle... I suppose I should explain about him first. While we were back on that... other world, a man who claimed to be my uncle tried to kill me. Jacob shot him first. He said he would explain things, but then... well... where is he anyway?"

"He didn't come out of the dome," Sora answered. "But Leon said that we got a message from him, so I guess he isn't dead..."

Sora quickly ran Kairi down on what had happened while she was knocked out. The Star Destroyers, the discussion he had had with Goofy, Donald, and Max, and her trance.

"Okay, so in my dream, my uncle was talking with this huge red haired creep named Adel. She said that she was going to take over a world and that... someone would make a fine successor. She said that her successor was my sister because a Princess of Heart could never become a Sorceress, whatever that is."

"Wait a sec, back up the train," Sora said, waving his hands. "You've got a _sister_?"

"I didn't know until then either," Kairi shrugged. "But I wonder what a Sorceress is..."

"Kairi, you do realize that these dreams have nothing to do with Jacob, right?"

"I know, but... well, they may be connected somehow." Kairi said. "Anyway, so the next part of the dream had all these weird people and Leon all fighting against Adel, and she had captured this girl." Kairi paused and tried to visualize the scene again. "One of them looked really familiar... she was wearing orange overalls and had this really strange hair-doo... kinda like she took rollers to each side of her head." Kairi looked at Sora. "Doesn't that seem familiar to you?"

Sora thought for a moment. Then...

"Selphie?"

"No way," Kairi laughed. "This girl was like, what, seventeen? Not Selphie."

Sora sighed. "How old is Selphie now, anyway?"

"I think she turns thirteen in a couple of weeks," Kairi replied.

"I miss her," Sora said. "Her and all the others from back on the Islands."

"You know..." Kairi smirked. "You haven't talked about Riku since your big fit when he went missing in the first place."

"Well, I realized..." Sora said. "I've lost him and found him twice. Why shouldn't I again?"

"Don't jinx yourself. Anyway, the next part of the dream was the same group with Squall fighting against this other woman. I think her name was Ultimencia. The girl in blue that Adel had captured was with them. They... slowly, every single one of them was pulled away, as though they were just... whips of smoke being blown away. Then... only Leon was left and he killed Ultimencia."

"Then I was at my twelfth birthday party. Jacob and... this girl with red hair were there. They were on the street and only my mom noticed him. He kinda just walked off after she saw him..."

"I had another really short segment. Jacob and the girl were with a bunch of other people. I didn't really see anything, I was gone too quick. The last one... well, Jacob and the girl were running from this HUGE Heartless, and Jacob got it on the ground and then they both kissed before she ran off and he stayed behind to fight the thing."

"Heh heh..."

Kairi looked at Sora. "What was that for?"

"Jacob's got a _girlfriend_," Sora laughed softly.

Kairi rolled her eyes. "So, master sleuth, have you deduced anything yet?"

"Nothing," Sora said. "Your dreams could be just a bit more vague, and then I think I could just..."

"Stop it," Kairi giggled. For a moment she looked up into the sky again. "It's like back on the islands. Just joking around and watching the stars..." She placed a hand flat on the rocky ground below her. "Too bad this looses heat quicker than sand." She shivered a bit. She hadn't even realized that she had gotten cold.

She suddenly heard a rustling to her left. She looked over at Sora and saw that he had pulled off his vest.

"Here," he said standing up, taking a step closer, and kneeling down next to her. "Put this on. And pull the hood up." He pushed a hand under Kairi's back and gently sat her up and dressed her into the vest.

"Sora, I really don't..."

"No, it's fine," Sora said with a smile. "After all the places I've been, I don't think I'll ever tell the difference in hot and cold." He laid down again, not bothering to move back to his spot. Kairi only looked at him for a few moments before he said, "Well? You gonna lay down?"

Kairi smiled and laid back down next to Sora, and it was a matter of minutes before she had snuggled up to him and fallen asleep. Sora drowsily smiled at her and stroked her hair without even seeming to realize that he was doing it before he too fell asleep.

**The next day, just past dawn...**

A small hovel sat out in the middle of the desert, a huge, strangely shaped tank-like vehicle pulled up and lowered a loading ramp. Robot after robot, each stranger than the last, rolled out onto the flat sandy terrain, accompanied by short creatures with glowing yellow eyes. They were dressed in brown robes that shadowed their skin till in wasn't visible at all. And moments later, from the hovel, emerged two men in white outfits.

"Damn," said the older one. "Suns are barely up and the scavengers are already here." He turned to the much younger boy behind him, probably nineteen years old. "Make sure they don't get near the house."

The boy nodded as one of the little creatures ran up to them. He started chattering in a strange language that the man apparently understood (or at least he assumed what the creature was saying). "All right, all right, we're coming..."

"Luke!" a female voice suddenly called. "Luke!"

The younger man ran off to a huge man made pit off to his left and looked down into it. Inside was an assortment of doors that assumedly led off into an underground house of sorts. A woman in her sixties or so called up to the boy. "Luke! Tell uncle that if the gets a translator, be sure is speaks Baachee!"

"Well, doesn't look like we've got much of a choice, but I'll tell him!" the boy called back before turning and jogging off to join the other man.

The little creatures had lined up several robots, and the older man was already looking over them.

"No, no, not that one..." he said in an annoyed tone as the scavengers ushered him along the line. After a few moments he reached a tall, man-shaped robot in golden metal plating. "You!" The robot straightened quickly upon being addressed. "I suppose you're programed for etiquette and protocol?"

"Protocol?" the robot asked with a British accent. "Sir, that is my primary function!"

"I've no need for a protocol droid," the man said, starting to move on.

"Of course you haven't sir!" the robot said. "Not in this environment at least. That is why I have been programmed in-"

"What I really need," the man cut the robot off. "Is a droid who understands the fineries of the language of moisture evaporators."

"Sir, that is a part of my primary programming! I've worked with many machines similar to-"

"Do you speak Baachee?"

"Of course I do sir, it's like a second language to me! You see, I'm-"

"All right, shut up." He motioned to one of the scavengers. "I'll take this one." He looked around. "And..." he pointed to a short, trash can shaped, blue domed robot. "That one too. Luke!"

The boy, who was looking at another robot, ran over to him.

"Clean these two up. I want them looking new by dinner."

"But I was going over to Tashiee Station to pick up some power convertors!" the boy exclaimed, exasperated.

"You can waste time with your friends when your chores are done," the man replied. "Now come on, get too it."

Luke sighed and motioned to the newly bought droids and walked towards the hovel, which presumably lead to a much larger construction.

Several minutes later, the robots had been loaded up and the tank had rolled away. But just before the man walked back into the house, he noticed two figures on the horizon walking towards him...

**If you don't know where Sora and Kairi are and what just happened then I think you should stop reading this fan fiction and got to your local Blockbuster or whatever and rent the entire Star Wars saga just for the sake of basic principals.**


	22. Discovering the Rebellion

**Here we go. I've made an extra special extra long chapter for you guys. It's the longest chapter I've written for this story so far. But this chapter also comes with an announcement. I'm not going to do the Previously thing anymore, simply because it's becoming sort of awkward for me to write.**

**Chapter 22: Discovering the Rebellion**

**Out on the desert...**

Sora and Kairi saw the huge vehicle roll away and the small house protruding from the ground was suddenly visible.

"Well, glad to know that there are at least other living things here," Kairi sighed in relief. She held a hand up to block the sun from her eyes. "Hope they've got water."

"Kairi, it's a desert world," Sora said. "You really think they aren't going to have water?"

"Who knows," Kairi said. "Maybe the creatures of this world don't need water or something."

"If they don't, then we're in trouble."

They slowly got closer, and Sora was soon able to make out the figure of a human walking away from the house and towards them.

They met halfway a few moments later. The reaction of the man now standing before them was not a good omen.

"Who the hell are you? And how the hell did you get this far into the desert alive on foot?"

To say the man looked intimidating was a bit of an understatement. A scruffy beard and a work hardened body were among the features that put Sora and Kairi on their guard.

"Er... we teleported down from our ship," Sora said. "We were under attack by Imperial forces."

"The Empire?" the man asked. "The move along, we don't want any trouble."

"Look, do you at least know where the nearest settlement is?" Sora asked. "We've gotta get to a big town as soon as we can."

"If you're running from the Empire, towns aren't the way to go," the man said. "They control the entire world."

Sora and Kairi exchanged looks.

"Look, I don't want any trouble with the Empire, but I'll house you two for the night. Okay? Then I'll have my nephew drive you out to Tashiee Station and you can go do whatever it is you want to do. Just don't tell anyone who helped you. Okay?"

"Well, we can't tell anyone anyway, because you haven't told us your name," Kairi said.

"Owen Lars. My wife's name's Brew. And my nephew. His name's Luke."

"I'm Sora, and this is Kairi," Sora said, gesturing to the two of them as he said the names.

"You two brother and sister or something?" Owen asked.

"No."

"A couple?"

"No!"

"Heh. Well, come on then."

The three walked slowly towards the house, Sora and Kairi hoping for the best.

**A short while later...**

"Alright then, you two stay here. Luke, keep an eye on them."

Owen walked out of the room, leaving Sora and Kairi in a small room filled with mechanical do-hickeys and Owen's nephew, Luke. He had short, blond hair and bright blue eyes, almost like Sora's. He was currenly cleaning up two 'droids' that he had purchased from desert scavengers.

The 'protocol droid' had been dunked into a tub filled with oil, at which he was overjoyed.

"Oh, this bath is going to feel so good!" the golden man said. "I've got such a bad case of dust contamination I can hardly move."

"Ah, Biggs is right," Luke suddenly burst out. "I'm never going to get out of here!"

Kairi and Sora looked at each other. _"Random!"_

"Is there anything I can do to help sir?" the gold robot asked.

"No. Not unless you can alter time, speed up the harvest or teleport me off this rock."

"I don't think so sir," the robot said. "I'm only a droid and not very knowledgeable about these things. Not on this world anyway. As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure which world I'm on."

"Well, if there's a bright center of the universe you're on the world that's farthest from it."

"I see, sir."

Luke laughed. "You can call me Luke."

"I see, Sir Luke."

He laughed again, as did Sora and Kairi. "Just Luke."

"Oh. And I am C-3PO, human/cyborg relations. And this is my counterpart, R2-D2." He gestured to the small blue trash can shaped robot.

Luke kneeled over next to R2-D2. "Hello." The droid responded with a series of whistles. "Well, you guys certainly have some dents and scratches on you. You must'a seen a lot of action," he said as he started cleaning the little robot.

"Oh, with all we've been through I'm supprised we're in such good condition as we are sometimes. What with the Rebelion and all."

"The Rebellion?!?"

Luke jumped up from R2-D2. "You know of the Rebellion?" Sora and Kairi's eyes widened as they listened more intently.

"Oh, not really sir," C-3PO. "We've just been caught up in their actions more than anything. We don't know much of their actual actions."

"A rebellion?" Sora asked. "Against the Empire?"

Luke arched an eyebrow. "Have you been living under a rock?"

"Says the man who admits he lives _on_ one," Kairi muttered.

"The Rebelion has been active for almost five years. They've been practically forming their own military to fight the Empire." Luke continued to stare at Sora. "Where are you from anyway?"

"Well, if you really want us to get started on the whole where-we-come-from-and-how-we-came-to-be-here thing, you'll want to dig in for a long story," Sora said.

"And a mildly unbelievable one," Kairi added.

And so Sora and Kairi commenced upon the tale of the Heartless and the Organization, and how Sora came to wield the Keyblade against the forces of Darkness. At first Luke and C-3PO were sceptic at first (R2-D2 believed every word of it, as C-3PO translated), but after Sora and Kairi presented their Keyblades and Sora showed a few of his scars of battle, they seemed more ready to believe their story.

"And so now, you guys are looking for some sort of resistance group to help you liberate Disney Castle and Radiant Garden?" Luke asked.

"That's right," Kairi said. "We saw some Star Destroyers fighting with this little ship and we thought this might be the planet to start looking."

"Yeah, well, you've come to the wrong place," Luke sighed. "I don't think the Empire would even fight to keep this planet. It's just a huge wasteland."

"Well, at least we'll be able to get a ship and go find our friends instead of being stranded here," Sora said.

"Not unless you've got a ship load of Imperial Credits," Luke replied. He kneeled over again to continue working on R2. "I've been trying to get off this rock for years... go join the Academy or something... but Uncle Owen keeps holding me for 'one more season'... it's just frustrating..."

"Academy?" Sora asked.

"For star fighters," Luke answered. "I wanna become a pilot. I'm good too, and I want to make sure that I'm on the side I believe in, not with the Empire. Eventually they'll hear I'm good and come find me... but I aim to be as far away from here as possible by then." He looked into a small opening on R2. "You've got something wedged in here pretty good... let's see if I can..." Luke took a small screw driver resembling device and stuck it into the opening. He kept pushing on the small object until...

_Twang!_

Luke fell onto the ground as the object flew from R2 across the room. But it was quickly forgotten when a blue see-through figure was suddenly projected from one of R2's three optics.

It was a woman. She was wearing a long dress with a hood up over her head. She was talking.

"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."

The message reset it's self.

"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."

Reset.

"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."

"What is this?" Sora asked.

"Beep-beep-do-bloop."

"What do you mean, what's what? He asked you a question.

R2 made some more noises.

"Oh, he says that it's old data sir. Only a malfunction, pay in no mind."

"Who is she?... She's beautiful." Luke muttered, not looking away from the woman.

"I believe she was a passenger on our last voyage sir," C-3PO answered. "A person of some sort of importance, I think. Our captain was very intent upon-"

"Is there any more of this recording?" Sora asked.

R2 made more of his strange noises.

"Oh R2, don't. You'll get us into trouble. Just tell them"

More beeps and whistles. "He says that he is the property of a person named Obi-Wan Kenobi, who apparently lives in these parts. He says that it's a private message for him. Quite frankly sir, I've no idea what he's talking about. Our last master was Captain Anttillies. But, with all we've been through this little R2 unit has become a little eccentric."

R2 made a rude noise as the projection continued to play in the background.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi," Luke muttered. "I wonder if he means old Ben Kenobi."

"Wait, you know what he's talking about?" Kairi asked.

"Well, I don't know anyone named Obi-Wan, but old Ben lives out beyond the Dune Sea. Kind of a strange hermit."

"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi," the woman said again. "You're my only hope."

"She sounds like she's in trouble," Luke said, looking back to R2 and reaching for him. "I'm gonna see if I can play back the entire message..."

"Wwhhooo! Do-do-del-do."

"He says that the restraining bolt has short circuited his playback systems. If you remove it, he may be able to access the full video," C-3PO translated.

"Well, I guess you're too young to go running off anyway..." Luke grabbed a small tool and started twisting the bolt until it popped off. "Alright, there you go..."

"Hey!" Sora yelled. "She's gone!"

Luke looked around and sure enough, the projection of the woman had disappeared.

"What's going on?" Luke asked. "Play back the entire message!"

"Twee-bop-bee-bo?"

"What message?" C-3PO repeated angrily. "Why, the one you've just been playing! The one stored within your rusty innards!"

"Luke! Luke!" a female voice called.

"Alright, I'll be right there Anut Brew!" Luke yelled back.

"Bring those two kids with you!" she replied before her voice was no longer heard.

Luke sighed and looked angrily at R2.

"I'm sorry sir, but it appears that he has picked up a slight flutter," C-3PO said.

"Here, see what you can do with him," Luke said, handing a tool to C-3PO. He motioned for Sora and Kairi, who followed him off into another part of the house.

"Just you reconsider playing that message back for them," C-3PO said angrily to R2 once the humans were out of ear-shot.

R2 whistled something back.

"No, I don't think they like you at all."

More whistles.

"No, I don't like you, either."

**A few moments later...**

Owen and Brew had already sat down to dinner when Luke, Sora and Kairi walked in.

"You know, I think that R2 unit we bought might have been stolen," Luke said before he had even taken a seat.

"What makes you say that?" Owen asked.

"Well, we stumbled across a recording while we were cleaning him," Luke replied. "Says he belongs to someone called Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Luke and Sora simultaneously tucked into their soup, so only Kairi noticed the eyes of Luke's aunt and uncle widen at the name.

"Thought he might have meant old Ben," Luke said. "Do you know what he's talking about?" he asked his uncle.

"No." Owen replied a bit too hastily.

"Huh. Wonder if he's related to Ben..."

"That wizard is a crazy old man," Owen said angrily. "Tomorrow I want you to take that R2 unit to Anchor Head and have it's memory erased. And that'll be the end of it. It belongs to us now."

"But... is that smart?" Kairi asked. "What if this... Obi-Wan comes looking for it?"

"He will not." Owen said, flashing a look at Kairi that said 'you aren't welcome in my house'. "I don't think he exists anymore. Died around the same time as Luke's father."

"He knew my father?" Luke asked eagerly.

"I told you to forget it," Owen said. "Your only concern is to prepare those new droids for tomorrow. In the morning I want them up on the south ridge, working on those condensers."

There were a few moments of silence broken only by the clanking of spoons in bowls before Luke said, "I really think these new droids are going to work out. And... I've been thinking about our agreement." Owen looked up from his soup. "About my staying on for another season. And... if these new droids do work out I want to transmit my application to the Academy this year."

"You mean the next semester before the harvest?" Owen asked.

"Sure, there's more than enough droids," Luke replied.

"Harvest is when I need you most," Owen said, his voice somewhat more gentle than when they had been arguing about the droid. "It's only one season more. This year we'll make enough money this harvest that I'll be able to hire some more hands and... you can go to the Academy next year. You must understand that I need you here Luke."

"But it's a whole nother year!" Luke said, putting his spoon down.

"Look, it's only one more season," Owen insisted.

"Yeah, well, that's what you said when Biggs left," Luke said angrily, standing up from the table.

"Where are you going?" Brew asked.

Luke sighed and walked out. "Looks like I'm going nowhere. "I've got to go finish cleaning those droids..."

Kairi started to stand too, and glanced at Sora. He gave her a look that clearly said, 'But I haven't finished my soup!', but Kairi rolled her eyes and walked away, knowing Sora would follow after an exit like that.

Sora slurped down as much of the soup as he could in a few seconds before hastily saying to Brew, "I'd like the recipe for that soup please," and rushing out.

"Owen, Luke can't stay here forever. Most of his friends have gone," Brew said as soon as Sora was gone. "It means so much to him."

"I'll make in up to him next year," Owen replied. "I promise."

"Tell Luke that, not me." Brew sighed. "Luke just isn't a farmer Owen. He's got too much of his father in him."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

**That night...**

Luke, Sora and Kairi walked back into the droid's room, but C-3PO and R2 were nowhere to be seen.

Luke reached into his pocket and pulled out a small remote that activated a shock in the restraining bolts on the droids. Or, at least, C-3PO.

He pressed the button.

"Ouch!"

C-3PO jumped out from behind a large crate.

"What're you doing back there?" Sora asked.

"I'm so sorry Sora and Kairi and master Luke! _Please_ don't deactivate me!" C-3PO cried. "I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen. He's fulty! Malfunctioning! Kept babbling on about his mission!"

"Oh-no..." Luke and the other two were already halfway to the door. They dashed out of the house and onto the cool evening sand of the world. The twin suns were setting and casting a radiant purple light upon everything. Luke pulled out binoculars from his back pocket and started scanning the horizon as C-3PO caught up to them and started babbling again.

"That R2 unit has always been a problem sir. These astro droids are getting quite out of hand. Even I-"

"Shut up for three seconds, okay?" Sora said angrily.

"Aw, he's nowhere in sight," Luke sighed, lowering the binoculars. "Blast it..."

"Shouldn't we go after him?" Kairi asked.

"No, not at night. It's too dangerous with all the sand people," Luke answered.

"Sand people?" Sora questioned.

"Savages that live in the Dune Sea," Luke said hastily. "We'll have to wait until morning. Even you two and your..." he tried to remember. "Keyblades probably wouldn't stand a chance against a bunch of them teamed up."

"Luke!" Owen cried. "I'm shutting the power down!"

"Alright, I'll be there in just a minute!" he yelled back. "Boy am I gonna get it..." he whipped around at C-3PO. "You know that little droid is gonna cause me a lot of trouble?"

"Oh, he excels in that, sir," C-3PO said woefully.

**The next morning...**

Owen walked into the kitchen, where Brew was making breakfast. "Have you seen Luke this morning?" Owen asked. "Or those two kids for that matter?"

"Luke said that he had some things to do before he got started today," Brew said. "So, he left early."

"Do you think that he took those kids with him?" Owen asked. "And the new droids?"

"I don't know about the droids," Brew said as she started cutting vegetables. "But he took Sora and Kairi with him. Sora asked me for my soup recipe before they went."

"Huh. Maybe he's taking them to town like I told him too."

**Out on the Dune Sea...**

Luke's sand speeder, a sort of hovering car, shot across the desert. Kairi was scanning the horizon with Luke's binoculars, Sora was looking at a scanner that was picking up R2-D2's signal.

"Scanner says that he's just beyond the ridge up ahead of us," Sora said.

Luke kicked the vehicle into high gear and they shot of in the direction indicated by Sora.

The sand speeder came to a halt on the rocky terrain. R2 was just in front of them. Everyone bailed out and ran over to him.

"Hey, just where do you think you're going?" Luke asked.

More noises from R2.

"Master Luke is your rightful owner now!" C-3PO insisted. "Now we will have no more of this Obi-Wan Kenobi gibberish."

Suddenly R2 started making several noises that sounded alarmingly like a... well, an alarm.

"What's wrong with him now?" Sora asked.

"He says that there are several life-forms approaching from the south-east," C-3PO translated.

"Sand people..." Luke said worriedly. He ran over to the sand speeder and picked up a long rife. "Come on, let's go check it out," he said. Sora and Kairi gave him strange looks, but he simply said, "Come on!"

They climbed up the ridge until they had a view of several people dressed in extremely strange clothes riding on huge elephant like beasts. Luke zoomed in on the binoculars.

"Yeah, those are definitely sand people," Luke said. "You can tell by-"

Suddenly his vision was obscured. He looked up to see one of the warriors standing right above him, a huge, spiked club raised to strike!!

C-3PO gave a pitiful scream and fell down a long rock walkway to the bottom of the ridge. Sora and Kairi's Keyblades were in their hands in a flash of light, but the warrior swung the club at them first. Sora's expert reflexes made him duck, but Kairi's luck did not mirror his. The club collided with her head and sent her tumbling over the steep, rocky edge of the ridge.

"KAIRI!!" Sora leapt off the edge of the ridge, all thoughts of Luke and the warrior forgotten.

The warrior swung his club at Luke, who ducked to the ground and rolled to avoid another swing of the club.

The attacker let out a savage roar that alerted his comrades of more intruders to their land. Quickly after, he slammed the club into Luke's chest and then kicked him hard in the face, knocking him out.

Kairi's body came to a quick stop, luckily falling on a small outcropping from the ridge. Sora landed next to her and almost fell because of the lack of space to put his feet down. He dropped to his knees and quickly looked Kairi over. The left side of her temple was bleeding, but it didn't look like the hit had done much damage to the skull. Sora guessed that her thick hair absorbed most of the blow.

_Twang!_

Sora looked up from Kairi to see that two sand people with rifles had opened fire upon him. He hefted Kairi's body over his shoulder and leapt from the outcropping to the ground with ease. He rose the _Kingdom Key_ to block the incoming laser fire coming at him. He was about to charge the men when he heard a terrible roar above him and another sand person jumped down upon him, club at the ready. That was the last thing her remembered before he blacked out.

**Moments later...**

R2 had taken to hiding in a small crevice as soon as the sand people attacked. Now he was watching as they dumped the limp bodies of Sora, Kairi, and Luke onto the ground before they walked over the the sand speeder to demolish it.

Then, suddenly, a strange, whooping noise echoed through the valley. The sand people and R2 all looked up the ridge to see a figure in an old brown cloak approaching. The sand people turned tail and ran faster than you could say 'random'.

The figure approached the bodies of the three teens, kneeling over next to them. The figure reached into the cloak and pulled out some bandages, which he hastily wrapped around Kairi's head to stop the bleeding. He looked over Luke and Sora as well, checking for pulse or open wounds, when he noticed R2 in the cave. He lowered his hood.

The man, perhaps in his late fifties, with thin white hair and an equally white, scruffy beard, smiled. "Hello there," he said. "Come here, my little friend. Don't be afraid."

R2 beeped and whittled a few times.

The man, apparently understanding the robot's tongue, said, "Oh, don't worry, they'll all be alright."

Suddenly, Luke stirred. The man looked back down at him as he opened his eyes. The man helped him to sit up. "Rest easy, son," the man said. "You've had a busy day. You're fortunate to be all in one peace."

Luke rubbed his cheek where the warrior had kicked him, then looked up at the man's face. "... Ben? Ben Kenobi? Boy am I glad to see you."

"The Judlen Wastes are not to be traveled lightly," Ben said, gesturing to Sora and Kairi. R2, who had rolled out of the crevice, made noises of agreement. "Tell me, young Luke," Ben said. "What brings you and your friends to these parts?"

"This little droid," Luke said, pointing to R2. "I think he's searching for his former master. I've never seen devotion like this in a droid." R2 bleeped and blooped at this. "He claims to be the property of an Obi-Wan Kenobi. Was he a relitive of yours? Do you know who he's talking about?"

"Obi-Wan Kenobi," Ben muttered. "Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. Loonngg time."

"I think my uncle knows him. He says that he's dead."

"Oh, he's not dead," Ben chuckled. "Not yet."

"So you know him?" Luke asked hopefully.

"Well of course I know him," Ben said. "He's me. I haven't gone by the name of Obi-Wan since... oh, since before you were born."

"So I guess the droid does belong to you," Luke said.

"Funny," Obi-Wan said. "Don't seem to recall ever owning a droid. Very interesting..."

Suddenly a sand person war cry was heard. "We'd best get indoors," Obi-Wan said. "The sand people can be frightened easily, but they will soon be back. And in greater numbers."

"Well, here, help me get these two into the speeder," Luke said, standing up and walking over to Sora and Kairi. "Will they be okay?"

"Their injuries were a bit worse then yours," Obi-Wan said. "But they should be fine."

Luke picked up Sora and Obi-Wan went for Kairi. They sat them into the sand speeder and then R2 started whistling.

"Oh yeah... threepio," Luke said, running off. Obi-Wan was close behind.

**Later, at Obi-Wan's hut...**

C-3PO's arm had been severed in his fall, but Luke fixed in up almost instantly when they reached Obi-Wan's small desert home. Sora and Kairi awoke shortly after they arrived, and though Kairi said that she had a splitting head ache, Obi-Wan said that she would be all right and that no internal damage had come to her.

After Sora and Kairi had been introduced to 'Ben' and his identity as Obi-Wan had been disclosed, the old man brought up a strange and random topic: he said that Luke's father had fought in something called the 'Clone Wars'.

"My father didn't fight in the wars," Luke laughed. "He was a navigator on a spice freighter."

"That's what your uncle told you," Obi-Wan said. "He didn't agree with your father's ideas. Thought he should have stayed here and not gotten involved."

Luke looked surprised. "You fought in the Clone Wars?"

"Yes. I was once a Jedi Knight along with your father."

"I just wish I could have known him," Luke sighed.

"He was the best star pilot in the galaxy," Obi-Wan said, a nostalgic look in his eyes. "And a cunning warrior. I understand that you've become quite the pilot yourself." Luke smiled at this. "... And he was a good friend," Obi-Wan finished. He stood up. "That reminds me..." he walked over to a chest in the corner of his house. "I've something here for you..." He popped the chest open and rummaged for something for a few moments before he pulled out a short metal handle. "... Your father's wanted you to have this when you were old enough. Your uncle wouldn't allow it. He was afraid that you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damn fool idealistic crusade like your father did."

"Sir, if you won't be needing me I believe I'll close down for a bit," C-3PO said.

"Oh, sure go ahead," Luke said. C-3PO nodded and the glow in his eyes disappeared as he turned off. Luke stood up and approached Obi-Wan. "What is it?"

"Your father's lightsaber," Obi-Wan said, handing in to Luke. "The weapon of a Jedi knight. Not as random or clumsy as a blaster..."

Luke pressed a button on the handle and suddenly a meter long blue beam of light shot out of the handle, forming a sword. Luke swung it around a few times as Sora and Kairi watched, and Sora was strangely reminded of Sienex's weapon...

"...For a more... civilized age," Obi-Wan finished as Luke turned the weapon off. "For over a thousand years the Jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the Dark Times. Before the Empire."

Luke and Obi-Wan both sat down. "How did my father die," Luke asked.

"A man by the name of Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine before he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi. He.... He betrayed and murdered your father. And now... the Jedi are all but extinct. Vader was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force."

"Uh... the Force?" Kairi asked.

Obi-Wan chuckled before saying. "The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together."

Suddenly R2 started making his beeping and whistling noises again. Obi-Wan stood and walked over to him. "Alright, my little friend, let's see if we can't figure out where you come from." He pushed a button on R2 and the transmission started playing, and this time it was the whole thing."

"General Kenobi. Years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father's request in person, but my ship as fallen under attack and I'm afraid that my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely to Alderaan. This... is our most desperate hour. Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope." And the recording stopped.

There was a moment of silence until Obi-Wan smiled and looked a Luke. "You must learn the ways of the Force... if you are to come with me to Alderaan."

"Alderaan?" Luke laughed. "I'm not going to Alderaan. It's late, I've got to get home I'm in for it as it is."

"I need your help Luke. She needs your help." He looked at Sora and Kairi. "She need's your help too."

"Wha-"

"I saw your Keyblades when the sand people attacked," Obi-Wan said. He frowned. "I'm getting too old for this sort of hero work..."

"Listen, I can't get involved," Luke said. "I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire, I hate it but there's nothing I can do about it right now. Besides, it's such a long way from here..."

"That's your uncle talking," Obi-Wan said.

Luke let out an exasperated sigh. "Oh boy... my uncle... how am I ever going to explain this."

"Learn about the Force, Luke," Obi-Wan insisted.

"Look, I can... I can get you as far as Anchor Head," Luke said. "I'm sure you can get a transport from there to... Mos Eisley or wherever you're going. Those two," he pointed to Sora and Kairi. "They were looking to join the Rebels, so they could go with you."

"You must do what you feel is right, of course," Obi-Wan said.

**Later...**

The sand speeder, with everyone packed inside, zoomed across the desert back towards the moisture farm, but something caught Sora's eye off to the right.

"Hey guys!" he yelled over the noise of the engine. "There's smoke over there!"

Luke turned the sand speeder towards the source of the black fumes, and saw a wrecked Sand Crawler that belonged to the very same scavengers that had sold them C-3PO and R2-D2 in the first place. The little creatures were scattered everywhere, all over the ground, dead.

"Looks like the sand people did this," Luke said as he ran up to the huge vehicle. "Look, there's ganffi staffs, bantha tracks, it's just that... I've never heard of them hitting anything this big before."

"They didn't," Obi-Wan said. "But we are meant to think they did. These tracks are side-by-side. Sand people always ride single file to hide their numbers. And these blaster burns (he pointed to the tank) are much to accurate for sand people. Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise."

"But... why would the Empire what to slaughter these little guys?" Kairi asked.

Luke thought for a moment, then looked at C-3PO and R2-D2. "If they traced the droids here then they could have figured out who they sold them to and that would lead them..." his eyes widened. "... back home." He bolted for the sand speeder.

"Wait Luke!" Obi-Wan called. "Wait, it's much too dangerous!"

Luke wasn't listening. He leapt into the speeder and took off into the distance.

**Minutes later...**

Sora had created a fire to burn the bodies of the scavengers, and C-3PO dumped the last one in when Luke pulled back up. The look on his face told them that his Aunt and Uncle had met their fate.

"There was nothing you could have done Luke," Obi-Wan said. "If you had been there, you would have been killed too, and the droids would now be in the hands of the Empire."

"I'll come with you to Alderaan," Luke said. "There's nothing left for me here now. I want to learn the ways of the Force, and become a Jedi like my father."

Sora and Kairi gave a cheer, R2 whooped in approval, and Obi-Wan patted Luke on the shoulder as the group turned to the sand speeder.

**After several hours of driving...**

The group stood upon a cliff, overlooking a vast town down below them.

"Mos Eisley space port," Obi-Wan said. "You will never find a more retched hive of scum and villainy."

"Er... good to know." Sora said nervously.

"We must be cautious," Obi-Wan said before turning for the sand speeder.

They drove down into the city and almost instantly were pulled over by a group of Stormtroopers.

"How long have you had these droids," a trooper with an orange pad on his shoulder asked.

"Oh, about three or four seasons," Luke said.

"Their up for sale if you want them," Kairi added.

"Let me see your identification," the trooper said to Luke.

Obi-Wan gave a small wave of his hand. "You don't need to see his identification."

"We don't need to see his identification," the trooper said to his comrades.

"These aren't the droids your looking for," Obi-Wan said, giving another wave.

"These aren't the droids we're looking fore," the trooper said.

"He can go about his business."

"You can go about your business."

"Move along."

"Move along! Move along!"

Luke didn't need telling twice. He started the engine up again and drove away from the troopers as fast as he legally could. Obi-Wan soon told him to stop outside of a bar.

"I don't understand!" Sora exclaimed. "I thought we were gonna have a fight on our hands!"

"The Force can have a strong influence upon the weak minded," Obi-Wan said.

"Do you really think that we'll find a pilot here that'll take us to Alderaan?" Kairi said, gesturing to the bar.

"Oh, most of the best freighter pilots can be found here, only watch your step," Obi-Wan replied. "This place can get a little rough."

"Are we allowed to go in?" Sora asked. "We're only fifteen."

"Trust me when I say no one will care," Obi-Wan said. "But Kairi... you may want to be extra careful."

"Why?"

"Well, no offense, but your appearance suggests a bit of a pushover. Someone might try and rape you or something."

As though that was perfectly normal, Obi-Wan, Luke and the droids all walked into the bar, and Sora and Kairi, after exchanging a worried look, followed.

Kairi's thought upon entering the bar was that it must be called, 'When Genres Collide'. It was filled with the strangest assortment of aliens and monsters she had ever seen, even in a movie. There were four creatures with heads like giant peanuts playing a catchy tune in the back of the bar, a huge wolf resembling beast smoking on a metal pipe, and even what looked devilishly like a devil sitting in the back corner eyeing some women a few tables away. And that was just to name a few.

Obi-Wan was already at the main bar, talking with a huge furry creature intently.

"Hey! We don't serve their kind here!"

Sora, Luke and Kairi looked at the bar to see the bartender pointing at them. At first Kairi thought that he was referring to herself and Sora, but then he said. "Your droids! We don't want them here!"

"Hey, you better wait outside with the speeder," Luke said to C-3PO. "We don't want any trouble."

"I heartily agree with you sir." The droid turned around and walked out of the bar, R2 in tow.

Obi-Wan walked over, the huge furry beast behind him. The thing walked on two legs like a man, and it had an ammo chain around it's torso.

"He's the first mate on a ship that might suit us," Obi-Wan said. "Back here."

The group walked into a small booth in the back where an hansom young man in his late twenties sat. He was dressed in a plain white tee shirt with a black vest.

"Han Solo," the man said. "Captain of the Millennium Falcon. Chewy here tells me that you're looking for passage to the Alderaan System."

"Indeed we are," Obi-Wan said. "... If it's a fast ship."

"Fast ship?" Han asked. "You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon?"

"Should we have?" Obi-Wan asked.

"It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs."

The look on Obi-Wan and Luke's faces told Sora and Kairi that this was some sort of impossible feat.

"I've outrun Imperial star ships. Not the local bulk cruisers, mind ya. I'm talking the big Corrilian ships. She fast enough for you old man?" He paused. "What's the cargo?"

"Myself," Obi-Wan started. "These three," he gestured to Luke, Sora and Kairi. "And two droids. That's all. And no questions asked."

Han laughed. "What is it? Some kind of local trouble?"

"Let's just say we'd like to avoid any Imperial entanglements."

"Well, that's the trick isn't it?" Han asked. "Then it's gonna cost you something extra. Fifteen thousand. All in advance."

"Fifteen thousand?!?" Luke exclaimed. "We could almost buy our own ship for that."

"But who's gonna fly it kid?" Han asked. "You?"

"You bet I could, I'm not such a bad pilot myself!" He started to stand. "Come on, we don't have to stay here and listen to this bantha shi-"

Obi-Wan grabbed his shoulder and lowered him back into the chair. "We can pay you three thousand now. And... fifteen thousand when we reach Alderaan."

"Eighteen?" Han asked, as if this was too good to be true. Obi-Wan nodded. "Alright, you've got yourself a ship. We'll leave as soon as you're ready. Docking bay ninety-four."

"Ninety-four," Obi-Wan repeated.

"Good," Han said. Then he pointed to the other side of the bar. "It looks like you guys have company."

Two Stormtroopers were talking with the bartender, who was pointing at their table. The group stood up and bolted out of the bar, leaving Solo and Chewy behind. The Stormtroopers stopped for a moment before passing over the two to continue searching.

"Man, can you believe this?" Han asked, standing up. "Eighteen thousand credits. These guys must be really desperate. This could really save my neck. Come on, you go get the ship warmed up, I'll be right there."

Chewy ran off and Han turned around to come face to face with an alien holding a gun.

"Hello Greedo," Han said in a sarcastically happy tone.

Greedo said something in a strange alien language and motioned for Solo to sit down at a table.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I was just going to see your boss," Han smiled. "Tell Jabba that I've got his money."

More alien chatter.

"Yeah, but this time I've got the money," Han said as he slowly and stealthily started reaching for his gun.

Greedo said something else.

"Look, I don't have it _with_ me! Tell Jabba that I-"

Greedo said something else, this time his tone was very angry.

"Even I get boarded sometimes. Do you think I had a choice?"

Greedo continued to talk.

"Over my dead body."

Chatter.

"Oh, I bet you have."

Greedo raised the gun but before he could even pull the trigger, Han had fired the gun from under the table and through the alien's chest. Greedo slumped over onto the table, dead.

A few people in the bar looked up to see what the noise was, but most ignored it, this being such a regular occurrence in the bar. Han tossed some cash to the bar tender, said "Sorry for the mess," and walked out.

**In the back alleys of the city...**

"Look, I don't know how much a credit is to munny, but I know we don't have the cash for the transport," Sora said.

"Here, we'll go into this bank and transfer your cash," Obi-Wan said. "With the money from the speeder, we should be able to get by."

After quickly transferring Sora's munny into Imperial credits, the group took off for hanger ninety-four. Even though R2 and C-3PO slowed them down considerably, they reached it in a few minutes.

"If this ship is as fast as he keeps boasting he might just put Cid out of business," Kairi whispered to Sora as the door to the hanger opened. They all stepped inside to see what looked like a huge disk with satellites and engines strapped to it, with a strange cockpit sticking out the side.

"What a piece of junk!" Luke yelled.

"She'll make point five past lightspeed," Han said. "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts. I've made a lot of... 'special modifications myself. But, we're a little rushed, so if you'll just get on board, then we'll get out of here."

The group clambered aboard while Han stayed out to make a few last minute checks. He was just screwing one last peace in when he heard a voice say, "Stop that ship! Blast them!!"

Han looked across the hanger to see that seven Stormtroopers had charged in with their guns blazing. Han drew his pistol and dispatched two within the first five seconds of the fray, neatly dodging around the barrage of lasers that was coming down upon him. He rushed onto the ship and closed the loading ramp behind him and yelled, "Chewy! Get us out of here!!"

The furry creature was already at the controls of the ship and the Millennium Falcon quickly lifted off the ground and blasted away from the town and into space.

"Great, looks like we've got two Imperial star cruisers coming in," Han said. "Our passengers must be hotter than I though. Get ready to make the jump to hyperspace."

Luke, Obi-Wan and Sora heard all this as they ran in. "Why don't you outrun them?" Luke asked. "I thought you said this thing was fast?"

"Flying through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, kid! Without the right directions in the navicomputer we could fly right through a star or bounce to close to a super nova and that'd end your trip real quick, huh? Go and strap yourselves in, they're gaining on us."

They ran out of the room just as Han reached for a switch, pulled in, and the ship blasted away at lightspeed.

**And that's that! And I'd like to leave a thanks for TrevDawg, who left me a very long, complimentary (and somewhat overpowering) review. TrevDawg, I sent you a PM, but as you said you don't use your page I was wondering if you received it. **

**Anyway, I should be able to wrap up Episode Four in two more chapters or less, then we'll only have one more loop before I start actually writing the next story, 'Fate of Heart'. No, there is not another artifact with a name like 'Bliss of Heart'. It's just that all my Kingdom Hearts stories are going to be titled with the name ' Something of Heart', sort of as a calling card for my stories.**


	23. Into the Death Star

**Just a remainder, I don't own any Star Wars characters, locations, or plot factors.**

**A warning to anyone reading this chapter: I've severally butchered the entire escape from the Death Star. My reason is simple: I'm on a schedule. AND I'M WAY BEHIND!!!**

**Chapter 23: Into the Death Star**

**On board the Millennium Falcon...**

After a long ride, Han finally announced, "Alright, we should be coming up on Alderaan." He ran out of the small lounge like space everyone was hanging out in and into the cockpit. Chewy, Sora, Luke and Obi-Wan followed quickly. The ship slowed down as the world around them came into focus. But there was no world... they were flying into a meteor shower.

"What the heck?" Sora asked. "Did we put the coordinates in properly?"

"Well, galactic positioning systems show that we're where we need to be..." Han asked, checking a scanner. "But... no Alderaan..."

"What are you saying?" Luke asked.

"I'm saying that Alderaan isn't there, kid."

"Did it get destroyed or something?" Sora said as he looked around at the huge chunks of earth that were floating through space.

"You kidding?" Han said. "It'd take an entire Imperial fleet just to get started."

Suddenly an Imperial TIE fighter swooped low over them and took off.

"And so the plot thickens," Sora said, watching the ship fly off into the distance.

"It must have gotten separated from a fleet or something," Luke said.

"No," Obi-Wan insisted. "That's a short range craft. It must be on it's way to an originating source."

"Well then quick, let's follow it," Sora said. "We may figure out what's going on here."

"And jam it's transmissions," Obi-Wan said. "We don't want them to know we're coming."

Kairi walked in. "What's going on?"

"Alderaan is gone," Sora said.

"Excuse me?"

"Save it kids," Han said as he started flipping switches. "Chewy, set the navi-computer incase we need to make a getaway."

The Millennium Falcon followed the TIE fighter through the asteroid field until the saw something in the distance.

"Looks like he's headed for that moon," Sora said.

Suddenly, Obi-Wan's eyes widened. "That's no moon. It's a space station."

"You're crazy," Han said. "That thing's way too big to be a space station."

They slowly got closer.

"Turn the ship around," Obi-Wan ordered.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine."

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Luke muttered.

The got closer and closer, and soon they were able to make out a large crater in the side...

"Guys?" Kairi said nervously. "I don't think that's natural..."

There were strange land forms all over it...

"Han, turn the ship around!" Sora yelled.

"You know what?" he said. "I'm starting tot hink you're right. Chewy, turn this hunk of junk around, and fast."

Suddenly the ship lurched, and even though Han had the Falcon in full reverse, they still slowly worked their way towards the moon.

"What's going on?" Sora asked.

"We're cough in a tractor beam kid!" Han yelled. "There's nothing I can do, we'll have to shut the power down!"

**On the huge space station...**

Squads of Stormtroopers were gathering in a hanger to prepare to capture whoever was onboard the ship. They didn't know why they had to capture the people, only that if they didn't, they would probably be killed, so they might as well just do it.

The Millennium Falcon floated through the ray shield protecting the harbor from the vacuum of space. It landed and it's loading bay opened automatically. Several Stormtroopers and higher officers ran onto the ship, returning minutes later. One officer pulled out a communication device. "Lord Vader, it appears that the ship is unoccupied," he said. "Ship's log states that the passengers ejected the ship soon after they left Tatooine."

"Very well," a voice said on the other side. "But I still want you to look that ship over from top to bottom."

"Of course, Lord Vader." The officer stuck the communication device into his pocket. He motioned for another officer to follow him onboard, and for two Stromtroopers to cover the entry ramp. Everyone else was dismissed.

Only seconds after the officers ascended the ramp they called back, "Could you guys get up here and give us a hand with this?"

The Stormtroopers looked at each other, shrugged, and ran up the ramp.

The last mistake they would ever make.

Luke and Han shot them dead as Sora and Kairi shoved the bodies of the officers into the closet. The group stripped the troopers of their armor and Han and Luke quickly put them on.

"Come on," Han said through the helment. "We've got to get to the dock control bay." He peaked out down the ramp. "Right up there," he said, pointing to a window about twenty feet above their head. "Hallway to it should be over there. Come on." The group ran across the hanger as quickly but quietly as they could to another hall, where they reached a stair case that lead to a huge blast door.

"How do we get it open?" Luke asked.

Sora started to raise his Keyblade before Obi-Wan stopped him. "It's locked by a computer. You're not getting through unless you can get through the computer."

Han looked at the small code input computer to the right of the door. "Anyone got any pencil lead?"

"What the hell?" Sora said, bewildered.

"No, no, crushed up pencil lead can show finger prints," Han said.

"Why would we have a pencil?" Sora asked angrily.

R2 beeped a few times before a pencil popped out of a compartment on his body.

Kairi couldn't help but laugh at the look on Sora's face when Han picked up the pencil. He grabbed the tip of the pencil and yanked hard, amazingly not breaking the long stick of lead but only pulling it out. He crushed in up in his hands and then said to R2, "Feather duster."

The duster popped out of the little droid.

"Dear Lord, R2, where have you been keeping all of this for years?" Threepio asked.

"Save it, tin man," Han said as he sprinkled the fine powder over the keypad. He then grabbed the feather duster and brushed the lead away, revealing very crude fingerprints.

Han pressed the right buttons quickly, then pressed the okay button. He qucikly grabbed his gun and motioned for the the others to draw their weapons as well. The door slid open to reveal two very confused looking Imperial officers. Han and Chewbacca blew them away before anyone else even had the chance to make a move.

"Alright, R2, plug into the system and see if you can find where the tractor beams operate from," Luke ordered. The droid beeped happily and rolled up to the computer, a plug sort of thing popping out of his body and sticking into a jack on the console. The screen lit up and started going through the blueprints of the station. Soon it found a small system deep within the station that controlled the whole thing's tractor beams.

"I'll deal with this," Obi-Wan said, turning away.

"I'll come with you," Luke said.

"No, Luke," Obi-Wan replied. "Stay here with the droids. Make sure that the empire doesn't get at them." He turned and ran off down the hall.

"Crazy old man," Han muttered, pulling off his helmet. "Kid, shut the door."

Luke did as Han said, then pulled off his own helmet. "This is ridiculous. Just sitting here and waiting for him to come back..."

"Well," Han said, plopping into a chair. "Look on the bright side. You've got me to keep you company."

Suddenly R2 went berserk. He was whistling and beeping and making about every other noise that even seemed possible.

"What is it now?" Han groaned as C-3PO began a translation.

"I'm not quite sure, sir," the droid said. "He keeps saying 'I've found her,' and insists that 'she's here'."

"Who?" Sora asked.

"Princess Leia, apparently."

"Now there's a Princess?" Han asked, frustrated. "What have I gotten myself into...?"

No one else was listening.

"She's here?" Sora asked. "Where at?"

R2 beeped.

"She is being held in detention block AA 23. I am afraid... she is to be terminated."

"Terminated?!?" Kairi said. "What for?!?"

"It doesn't say, Miss Kairi."

"Well, come on, we've got to help her!" Luke said quickly, but Han stood up.

"Hold on, okay? Time out. What princess?"

"The one that's being held here!" Sora said.

"Okay, genius," Han replied rudely. "How exactly do you know this princess and why is she so damn important?"

"She's with the Rebel Alliance," Luke said. "The droids belong to her."

"The Alliance?" Han asked. "Hell, this is not worth eighteen thousand credits...."

"Well, aren't you gonna help us rescue her?" Sora said.

"Rescue her?" Han laughed. "The old geezer said to stay here, and that's what I'm going to do."

Everyone looked furiously at Han, before Sora said, "She's rich you know."

"Rich?" Han asked. "What kinda rich are we talking about here?"

"Filthy rich," Sora said. "The reward for rescuing her would be.... I don't know. More than you've made in a long time, I'll bet."

"Alright kid, I don't know if you're lying or not but you've talked me into it. What's your plan?"

**Later, at the detention block AA 23...**

The guards standing around on the deck were surprised when two Stormtroopers walked in with a boy, and girl, and a wookiee behind them, the three wearing hand cuffs. They were even more surprised when the two troopers shot the cameras out and then shot the guards.

"Looks like we shot the computer," Han said, taking off his helmet. "You guys are gonna have to check every cell for your Princess."

"We'll get started," Sora said. He, Kairi, and Luke all charged off into the hall and started opening doors. Every one of them was empty before Kairi came across one that was occupied by a man in a cowboy hat and a trench coat. A long carmel brown pony tail hung down behind him.

The man looked up a Kairi in surprise. His cell hadn't been opened by a Stormtrooper for a change. Kairi was about to move on to the next cell before she realized that she had seen the man before. He had been in her dream, fighting alongside Leon. He looked much older, but it was definitely the man who had used the shot gun against Adel.

"Who are you?" the man asked, standing up from his cot.

"My name is Kairi," she said. "I... I suppose I'm here to break you out."

"Sweet!" the man said. "You would not believe how boring it gets in there after a few months."

"Kairi?" Sora said, running over. "What's going on? Move to the next door."

"Sora, this is one of the people I saw in my dream," she said, pointing at the man. "What's your name?"

"Irvine Kinneas, at your service," the man said, tipping his to them. "You here on a rescue mission?"

"We were going for some one else," Sora said.

"Well, doesn't matter to me," Irvine said happily. He pushed the two of them out of the way and stepped into the hall. "Oh, it feels so good to get out of there. Now where's Rinoa?" He walked over to a random cell and pressed a button. There was no one inside. He went to the next one.

"Are you looking for someone?" Kairi asked.

"Friend of mine," Irvine replied.

Sora and Kairi just shrugged and followed him.

Meanwhile, Han was having trouble up in front.

The radio crackled to life. "Hello? Detention block AA 23? What's going on up there?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all, just a slight, um, weapons malfunction. But, uh, we're all fine now. We're all fine. How about you?"

"We're sending a squad up to support," the man on the other side said.

"Uh.. negative, negative! We have a... uh.... gas leak!! Nothing too serious but just let us look it over before you send anyone..."

"Who is this? What is your operating number?"

Han simply grabbed his blaster and shot the radio. "Wasn't a very good conversation anyway." He yelled down the hall. "Kids! We're gonna have company!!"

Luke finally opened the right cell and saw a woman in a white dress laying on a cot. She looked up and him and smirked. "Little short for a Stormtrooper?"

"Huh?" he suddenly remembered that he was in disguise. "Oh! The uniform." He quickly pulled of the helmet. "I'm Luke Skywalker, and I'm here to rescue you."

"Rescue?" the princess asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I've got your droids, and I brought Obi-Wan Kenobi with me!"

"Obi-Wan Kenobi?!?" the girl exclaimed, jumping up from the bench. "Where is he?!?"

"Come on, I'll take you to him," Luke said. The two quickly bolted out of the cell.

Moments before that, Irvine had opened a cell.... and had been punched in the face.

"OW!!! DAMMIT, RINOA!!! I THINK YOU BROKE MY NOSE!!!"

"Oh!! Sorry, Irvine!! I was trying to escape!!"

"Tell that to the blood streaming openly down my face."

Rinoa was the girl in the blue outfit Kairi had seen in her dream. She, like Irvine, looked much older than she had in the dream, probably around twenty four. The light streaks in her hair still stood out clearly.

"How did you get out?" she asked.

"These two helped me," Irvine said, sliding over to Sora and Kairi. "They're here to bust someone out, and they were kind enough to-"

"Did you say Kairi?" Rinoa interrupted. Irvine nodded slowly, then his eyes widened as if he had realized something. Rinoa was about to open her mouth when Irvine gave her a profound look, and she seemed to change her train of thought. "Kairi, I...... You're a Princess of Heart, right?"

Kairi nodded. "This is Sora. He's a Keybearer."

Rinoa wasn't listening. She hadn't taken her eyes off of Kairi. It was lucky that neither Sora or Kairi were looking at Irvine, because he was making frantic had motions that clearly stated, _"Don't do it!!" _

Whatever it was, Rinoa was having a hard time not doing it. She was grateful for the sudden distraction of Luke and Leia running out of a cell.

"You guys know them?" Luke asked as he walked over to Sora and Kairi.

"Sorta...." Kairi muttered.

"We'll explain everything later," Sora interrupted. "I'll go grab Han and Chewy so we can-"

_Boom!!!_

The door to the elevator in the main control room was blown away and Stormtroopers came charging through. Han and Chewy came charging down the hall, ducking to avoid laser fire. Everyone pressed themselves up against the walls to avoid being hit.

"Alright, so which one of you is the princess?" Han asked angrily. "You?" he said as he looked at Leia. "You?" He reared back to avoid a laser bold while pointing at Rinoa. "This adventure is so insane I wouldn't be surprised if you were the princess."

He was looking at Irvine.

Luke drew his blaster and tossed it to Irvine on the other side of the hall. "Take this! I'm gonna see if there's another way out!!" Irvine caught the gun and, apparently in his element, started picking off Stormtroopers the second the gun was in his hand. Han and Chewy quickly followed suit with their weapons.

"Threepio!" Luke yelled into a communication device as he pressed himself against the wall even harder to avoid a sudden outburst of laser blasts in his direction. "Threepio!! Are there any other exits to detention block AA 23?!?"

Kairi looked out around Sora to see how many Stormtroopers there were, and she felt herself pulled back to the wall just in time to prevent a laser from colliding with her skull. She at the hand that had grabbed her shoulder: it was Rinoa's, who was standing on her other side.

"Be careful!" the woman reprimanded. "You aren't dying on my watch!"

"There's no other way out!" Luke announced as he stuck the device back onto his belt.

"This is some rescue mission!" Leia yelled angrily.

"Oh yeah? You got any suggestions, sweetie?!?" Han asked as he fired at the troopers.

"Yeah, I got one!" Leia replied.

_Boom!!!!_

The door to one of the cells they hadn't entered was suddenly blown away from the inside. The door flew across the hall, and every one stopped firing and waited for the smoke to clear.

"Wow! Here I was thinking that he was joking when he said you could make a bomb out of bubble gum! Thank you Mcgiver!"

The smoke cleared... to reveal Jacob, looking very triumphant and holding a pack of chewing gum aloft.

"What next?!?" Han yelled. "Is Hannah Montana gonna bust out of one of these cells with an AK-47?!?"

"Eh?" Jacob quickly looked between the group of heros and the Stormtroopers and evaluated the situation.

"Oh. Perfect timing."

The troopers seemed to come to their senses and started firing at Jacob and the rest of the group again. Jacob pulled a series of backflips and artful dodges to avoid the shots, eventualy getting next to the wall where Kairi and Rinoa were standing.

"Glad to see you're still in one peace!" Sora yelled over the din of gunfire.

"I'd say the same to you, but I'm a bit too concerned that we won't be in one piece in a few minutes. Thus..." He kicked a vent behind him. "... I think it's high time we escaped."

And without another word, he dove head first dow the chute.

"He's got an eye, I'll give him that," Sora muttered, before he too jumped down the chute.

Rinoa and Irvine followed in seconds, and Rinoa practically dragged Kairi through. Han gave cover fire as Luke jumped down, as did Leia. Chewy lowered his crossbow and was about to jump down the chute when he got a whiff of the oder that was coming from it.

"Chewy! Get a move on!!" Han yelled. Chewy grunted and shook his head. "I don't care what you smell, get in there!!" He angrily kicked the Wookiee down the chute then followed headfirst.

Han came crashing into something almost thirty seconds later. He stood up and realized that he was standing in a mixture of urine, water, oil, and almost every other kind of liquid you could think of that you wouldn't want to stand in. Floating in the massive cocktail was all kinds of trash that could have been found on the ship. Only one sentence was required to describe how Han was feeling right now.

"What an incredible smell we've discovered."

"Just shut up," Jacob said angrily. "Some moron Stormtrooper tossed a low-power-grade charge at me and forgot to arm it. We're out of here." He held the small ball up. "If you guys will step away from the door..."

And in the blink of an eye, Jacob disappeared.

And he was back.

Some sort of animal had wrapped it's self around Jacob and was trying to strangle him.

The monster dunked Jacob again.

"Damn! Quick, cowboy, help me with this!!"

Han and Irvine both ran over to the spot where Jacob had disappeared. "Kid?!? Kid! Where'd you go?!?"

"Step back!!" Sora yelled. He jumped into the middle of the room and yelled, "Aero!!"

The murky water was suddenly picked up and swirled around through the air around Sora, creating a miniature tornado in the middle of the chamber. While he didn't pick everything up, Jacob was now visible amongst the trash.

In seconds, Han and Irvine had shot with expert accuracy, hitting the beast an key points on it's body and killing it.

Jacob quickly shoved the carcass off and stood. Sora's Aero spell wore off and the water fell back to the ground. "It smelt like hell in there...."

Jacob laughed nervously. "Dropped the bomb..."

"Not your fault, kid," Han said. "Let's just try and figure out another way to..."

_Jerk. Grrrriiiiinnnnnddddd...._

"Great, it's a trash compactor!" Irvine yelled.

"What?" Kairi asked.

"He means that the walls are going to close in and crush the trash up," Han said in an impatient tone. "You and spiky really don't know anything, do you?"

"How about we talk later!" Leia yelled. "And barricade the walls now!"

"Uh, guys?" Jacob tried to interrupt.

"Sora, see if using Reflect will do anything!" Kairi said.

"Guys!! I've got another bomb!!" Jacob yelled.

"You do?" everyone asked at the same time.

**A bit later...**

Jacob had blown a hole in the exit with his bubble gum, and Sora had used a nifty little spell he learned from Merlin to clean everyone's clothes. Han and Luke stripped their Stormtrooper uniforms since then would now be no good with so many people with them, and Han passed his rifle off to Jacob because he favored his pistol, but Jacob passed the gun off to Luke, saying he could make due with his hands if need be.

Since then the group had taken to running through the halls in the direction that Han guaranteed led to his ship. When questioned as to why, he answered that he was familiar with the way things usually worked in Imperial setups. When questioned as to why he was familiar with the way things usually worked in Imperial setups, he told that person to the mind their own business.

It only took them a few minutes to reach the hanger. The only problem was that it was crawling with Stormtroopers.

"We could take them out, but we could do without the commotion..." Irvine suggested quietly as the group ducked back behind some electrical equipment on the edge of the hanger.

"We'll just have to wait for a distraction," Jacob muttered. "Or a change of the guard or something."

"Actually, even if we got to the ship we might not be going anywhere," Han muttered. "If the old man didn't shut the tractor beam down..."

"Oh, hello, Master Luke! What on earth are you doing down there?"

C-3PO and R2 had come up behind them. Sora just barely got up and shoved the golden man up against the wall to avoid him being seen by the guards. "You've got to be quiet," Sora said. "No one can know we're here."

Suddenly, much to the surprise of everyone, the Stormtroopers around the ship ran off to the other side of the hanger.

"Well what do you know?" Han said. "Looks like we've been given an opening."

The group rose from their hiding places and quickly but quietly took off in the direction of the Millennium Falcon. No one was looking at what it was that had distracted the Stormtroopers but Luke.

"Ben?"

Obi-Wan had drawn a long, blue, glowing sword and was dealing violently with a towering figure in black holding a similar red sword. The man's black cloak swished through the air behind him as he spun around Obi-Wan to strike. His face was covered by a dark, imposing helmet. The dual was being watched by the troopers, who hadn't stepped in to help.

Ben looked up from his opponent and saw Luke. He smiled.... and lowered his blade.

His opponent didn't miss a beat. The blade sliced cleanly through Obi-Wan, his robe sizzling as the heat of the weapon melted it's midsection.

"NO!!!!!" Luke screamed, finally catching the Stormtrooper's attention. They turned and fired on the escapers, who quickly returned fire.

"Luke!" Han yelled. "Get to the ship! Come on already!!"

Luke wasn't moving. He was going to kill every one of them on his own, even if everyone else left.

The dark figure who had been fighting Obi-Wan leaned over the robe. The body had disappeared...

Sora blasted the control panel for the door with a Thunder spell, blocking the man in black from them. He motioned for everyone to get onto the ship, then ran towards Luke, who was still stubbornly shooting at the Stormtroopers.

"Luke! Come on!! He's finished, let's just go!! You can't help him!!"

_"Run Luke, run!"_

_"The hell...? Ben?"_

He hadn't just heard his voice... had he?

"Luke, come on!!" Sora yelled one last time. Luke nodded and ran onto the ship just as Han ignited the engines.

"Strap yourselves in!" Han yelled. "We're bound to have followers and I don't know how far we're gonna get!!"

Kairi looked at Han as the ship lifted off. "Do you think he shut down the tractor beams?"

"No way of knowing until we're gone," Han answered.

But apparently they got lucky. No cannons fired, no tractor beams pulled them in, and no ships followed them.

It only took them a few minutes to guess: they were being tracked.

**And that's the end of that. What a terrible chapter....**

**Don't own Mcgiver, if you know who that is. If you don't, he's the title character of an 80's TV show.**

**The next one should be up really soon, so hold on.**


	24. Finally! We're Getting Somewhere!

**Okay, this is a chapter that I've been looking forward to because of the fact that I'm totally making up my own stuff here. Nothing borrowed, nothing copied. Well... almost. You get the idea. GET AWAY FROM ME, LAWYERS!!!!!**

**Chapter 24: Finally! We're Getting Somewhere!**

**On board the Millennium Falcon...**

Leia and Han had gotten into a heated argument over wether or not the Millennium Falcon could be tracked before Leia retreated into the depths of the ship. Luke, who was rather upset over the sudden death of Obi-Wan, and Chewy joined Han in the cockpit. Everyone else was sitting in the small lounge-like area.

"So, why were you guys being held captive by the Empire anyway?" Sora asked Rinoa and Irvine curiously.

"That, my friend, is a long and confusing story that would take a flight or two around the universe to finish," Irvine said as he slouched over in his seat before pulling his fedora down over his eyes.

"Ignore him," Rinoa said, rolling her eyes. "We can't exactly tell you the entire story, but... well, we were sort of sent through time and space. The Empire knew about it and took us in for questioning. They didn't believe our initial story, which was the true, and they've been holding us prisoner on various ships for almost eight years now."

"Eight years?!?" Kairi asked. "That's inhumane!"

"Well, the took care of us, that's for sure," Rinoa replied. "You know, let us walk around as long as we didn't try to escape, gave us good food. Although, when we got moved to the Death Star, they started cutting us off."

"The Death Star?" Sora asked.

"The big-daddy space station you fools were just running around on," Irvine said from under his hat. "It's got the fire power to destroy an entire planet!"

"A planet?" Kairi said. "They must have destroyed Alderaan!"

"Why would they do that?" Sora muttered, looking down.

"They were trying to get information out of Princess Leia."

Everyone except Irvine looked at Jacob, who hadn't said a word since they had boarded the ship.

"How do you know that?" Rinoa asked.

"Sienex. A Stormtrooper Captain. Well, I'm pretty sure that he's been promoted a few times now." Jacob gave a long, low sigh before continuing. "He came to my cell almost every day. Tortured me. The Empire wants to know the location of Bliss of Heart."

"What?" Sora and Kairi asked in unison.

"An artifact created by Noir," Jacob answered. "The god of Darkness."

"What the hell?" Sora asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Exactly. He's been the mascot of hell since the day he was conceived by Chaos, the second over-god."

"What's an over-god?" Sora said.

"There were two gods at the beginning of time. Chaos, who the over-god of Destruction, and Minerva, the over-god of Life. These two gods conceived a universe that would, in theory, stay in balance. The Light would never become too powerful, lest it become Dark. And the Dark would never control the universe, for clear reasons."

"Eventually the universe became too colossal for two gods to control, no matter how powerful," Jacob continued. "Humans gained minds outside of the god's control, and many of more chose the Dark than had been anticipated by these two gods. Even Chaos was becoming more and more self-obsessed, focusing on the Dark side of the universe and not upon both Light and Dark equally. Minerva realized that the universe was quickly getting out of hand and decided that more gods were needed to watch over the mortals. The first god that Chaos created was Noir, the god of Darkness."

"The guy from our dream?" Kairi asked. "He's a god?"

"You've been having dreams about Noir?!?" Rinoa exclaimed, throwing her hands onto Kairi's shoulders. "Do you know how dangerous that is?!?"

Unseen to Sora and Kairi, Jacob quickly shot Rinoa a warning look, at which she quickly withdrew from Kairi, muttering a quick, "Sorry."

"It _is _dangerous to have dreams about Noir," Jacob said. "He can steal one's mind and even their body if he can only put them into a trance. I believe that both of you fell into a trance on board the Shera just a day or so ago. He almost succeeded in abducting you before I intervened."

"Wait, hold on," Sora said. "You said that Sienex came to your cell almost every day. What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sora, he captured me back on Udogia," Jacob said. "That was almost a week ago."

"A week?" Kairi asked. "No one told us we had been knocked out for so long."

"That world was called Udogia?" Sora said.

"Back to the matter at hand," Jacob cut them off. "Bliss of Heart is something Noir created hundreds upon thousands of years ago. It has the power to control the levels of Light and Darkness in people's Hearts."

"Control... Light and Dark?" Sora asked. "So you're saying that this guy could basically bring about the destiny of the universe single handedly?"

Jacob chuckled. "Well... not anymore. He started, just about fifteen years ago, using his power for personal gain. Up until then the only purpose of the artifact was to stop anyone who ever became too powerful. But now Noir is starting to take steps in the direction of Chaos and is becoming increasingly more Dark. Five years ago he went totally rouge. I tried to stop him, but to no avail. But I did hinder his plans a bit when I stole Bliss of Heart. That's why Noir is trying to get you two. He's trying to use you to get to me. That's why the Empire captured me. To torture it's location. Whoever controls Bliss of Heart controls the universe."

"Well, why doesn't Noir just make a new Bliss of Heart?" Sora asked.

"Only one can exist at a time. Minerva declared it so when Noir created the artifact in the first place. Even Noir will not openly challenge the power of the gods. As long as he doesn't cause too much mayhem, the other gods will be likely to overlook his rampages."

"Wait, wait.... you're saying that you took on a god?" Sora asked skeptically.

"I agree, I wouldn't have believed it either," Jacob laughed.

"Jacob," Kairi started. "I've got a question... about the dreams."

"Fire away."

"Well, in the dreams... you were traveling with a girl.... about... maybe thirteen years old or so. Who was she?"

Jacob's smile disappeared, replaced with a frown. A sort of shadow seemed to cloud his eyes, and they unfocused on anyone else in the room, instead staring off into space. "Who she was is none of your business."

"What?"

"I said she was none of your business." Jacob shot an angry glance at Kairi. "Sometimes there are things people don't want to talk about."

There was a long, awkward moment of silence that was broken when Irvine gave a fake snore from under his hat. Rinoa elbowed him hard in the ribs.

"How do you know King Mickey?" Sora asked. "We... well, we thought that... your cell phone back in Radiant Garden..."

"I know him because I stole a Gummi Ship from him three years ago," Jacob answered hastily, his face still angry from Kairi's inquiry. "I needed to get off a world. Land of Liberty. That's where I lived for almost eight years after Radiant Garden was destroyed."

"Radiant Garden!" Rinoa exclaimed. "How could I have forgotten...?"

"Er.... what?" Sora looked at Rinoa, bewildered.

"Sora, you remember, don't you?" Jacob asked. "How everyone forgot that Radiant Garden was called Radiant Garden? Or are you still thinking about 'Hollow Bastion'?"

Sora shook his head. "No, I remember... Does that mean that you used to live there, Rinoa?"

"I... I did," Rinoa replied. "Until I was thirteen. Then the Darkness overtook the world. I was swallowed whole by the Darkness, and I re-apperaed on a different world. I... eventually met Squall again... Do you know who he is? Squall Leonhart?"

Rinoa didn't notice the quick cuts with Jacob made hand across his neck.

"_Leon_hart?" Sora asked. "I know a Leon, but I don't know his last name. Yuffie called him Squall a few times-"

"Yuffie?!?" Rinoa exclaimed. "You know Yuffie?!? Black hair, hyper, calls herself a ninja?"

Rinoa was still blind to the frantic 'No' movements coming from Jacob.

"Yeah, we know her for sure," Kairi said.

"Well... can you describe this Leon person you know?"

"Well, he's got a long scar down the center of his face, dark brown hair, blue eyes, always kinda emotionless, and uses a gunblade in battle."

"That's-!!"

Suddenly Jacob fell into a coughing fit, and the coughs sounded vaguely like 'they don't know!'

"That's... er.... not him," Rinoa said after Jacob finished, looking downhearted.

Sora and Kairi hadn't caught on yet, and only said, "Sorry we couldn't help."

"It's alright," Rinoa muttered. "It's not your fault." She looked up at Jacob. "I need to talk to you. Alone," she added when Kairi started to stand up.

Jacob nodded and stood from his chair, and Rinoa followed him out of the room.

**Aboard the Shera...**

"I don't like all of this waiting!" Donald said angrily. "What if something happened to them?"

Donald, Goofy, Max and Tifa were standing in the video chat room. It was the best place on the ship to talk if you didn't want to be heard, since no one used the room since Mickey told them not to contact him.

"I think we'd have known if something happened," Goofy said. "Our Hearts would have told us."

"That doesn't change anything!" Donald quacked. "If they get hurt, how are we supposed to get there in time to help them?"

"Donald, relax," Max said. "They'll be fine. I mean, come on. Sora's the Keyblade master. He's not going to take anything lightly after that last world."

"What was that place?" Tifa wondered aloud. "And how did the Empire know that we were there?"

"They seem to know a lot about us," Max commented. "Almost like they can smell us out wherever we are in the galaxy."

Suddenly, the video chat screen lit up. It read:

You have a video chat request from User: 'Sora' on Craft: 'Millennium Falcon'

"Wow!" Max exclaimed. "Quick, Tifa, go and get everyone! We'll boot the connection!"

"I want to see this too!" she said angrily.

"Just go, it'll take a sec' anyway," Max said as he started to tap buttons feverishly on the keyboard.

**Back on the Millennium Falcon...**

"Great job, R2!" Sora said happily as he patted the droid on the... top... part... thing. R2 beeped and whistled happily. "I'm just glad that I remembered the communication PIN, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to get through to them."

The screen showed a message of: Waiting for response to Chat Request. for a moment before the screen showed the Shera's chat room, which was occupied by Donald, Goofy and Max.

"Sora!" they all exclaimed happily.

"Hey guys!" Sora replied. He looked away from the screen. "Hey Kairi, I got it working!"

"Great!" Kairi said from over at another small jumble of cables. "I can't make sense of all this tecno stuff."

"Hey! Where are you guys?" Max asked from the other side of the screen.

"We're on a ship called the Millennium Falcon," Sora said. "We'll explain everything later, now we've got to tell you about the Rebel Alliance."

"That what?" Everyone asked.

"Just hold on... Kairi, go and grab Leia for me."

"Roger," Kairi giggled as she ran off into the ship.

"Who's Leia?" Goofy asked.

"Just one sec. Where are you guys exactly?" Sora asked.

"We're flying above Beast's Castle right now," Donald said. "Now, who's Leia?"

"Well, to be honest, we don't really know. But she's a member of a resistance against the Empire!"

"Really?" Max asked. "Do you think that she'll get them to help us?"

"Help you with what?"

Leia walked in with Kairi in tow.

"Er... we... you're a part of the resistance against the Empire, aren't you?" Sora asked.

"Yes... I guess I made that a bit too clear in the transmission, didn't I?" Leia paused. "I don't think we were introduced properly. Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan, at your service. And your names are?"

"Kairi." "Sora."

Leia's eyes widened. "Sora and Kairi? As in the Sora and Kairi who saved the galaxy from Organization XIII?"

"You two are regular celebrities," Max chucked from the other side of the video transmission.

"Hey!! What about us?!?" Donald yelled angrily.

"Yeah, that's us," Sora said with a nervous smile, scratching the back of his head.

"Kairi didn't do a ding-dong thing to help!! She just got captured!!" Donald was practically screaming and his face started to turn red.

"You have no idea how long the Rebellion has been looking for you guys," Leia said.

"_You_ guys have been looking for _us_?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah. We figured that since you guys could unlock paths between worlds you'd be pretty high up on the Empire's hit list."

"Wow. What a coincidence. We've been looking for some sort of resistance against the Empire for a little over two weeks," Sora said. "Radiant Garden... Ansem the Wise's home world... was taken over by the Empire. So was Disney Castle."

"You mean that they're after Ansem's research?" Leia asked.

"Well... we don't really know," Sora sighed. "It might have just been because they were coming after us, but that could be the reason."

"Sora, I'll take it from here."

The whole Shera crew had gathered in the video chat room.

"Sora," Leon spoke again. "I've got to talk with Miss. Rebellion here. Alone. Clear off." He looked around behind him. "_All_ of you."

Reluctantly, everyone but Leia and Leon left the chat rooms on both ships.

Leia arched an eyebrow as she looked at the Gunblade wielder. "... Leon?"

Leon actually smiled. "Yeah. Hey Leia."

**Later...**

"I still don't see why we're doing this!" Han said angrily. "Why am I risking my ship and my life to drop off two nose-wiping kids on an Imperial occupied world when I _still haven't gotten paid for my last little heroic act_?!?"

"Because Leia said she wouldn't pay you for anything unless you did this," Luke answered for the tenth time.

Leia had come out of the chat room with the confirmation that she had contacted the Rebellion and asked them to assault Radiant Garden and liberate it from Imperial control. All that they needed to to was land on Radiant Garden and rally some people to lead a ground attack that would distract the Empire long enough for the Rebellion to fly in and destroy the fleet surrounding the world. Sora and Kairi had agreed to go down (if you couldn't have predicted that, I think you should stop reading this story _now_), but Han had refused to take them there in the first place, insisting that they 'wouldn't survive' and that it was a 'suicide mission'.

"Listen Han," Sora had finally said. "If this ship is being tracked, the wherever you go in the universe you're going to be followed. Take us to Beast's Castle. I've got the coordinates. Then you can go fly off to wherever you want. Deal with your own problems. We'll pay you and get out of your life."

Han looked at Sora. "Alright, kid. I don't know why your so intent upon dying young, but I'll take you."

**Above Beast's Castle...**

The Millennium Falcon blasted out of hyperspace. They only had a few minutes to jump ships so that it wouldn't look like the Falcon stopped at this world long enough for them to do anything.

Sora, Kairi, Leia, Luke, Rinoa, Irvine, Jacob, C-3PO and R2 all walked into the airlock that was connecting with the Shera. Sora, Leia and Luke looked back at Han and Chewy for a moment.

"Take care of yourself," Luke said.

"Yeah," Han said. "You too." He chuckled. "May the 'Force' be with you."

Luke couldn't help but laugh too. "Stay out of trouble."

"Whoops. Already broke the promise," Han said as he flipped Leia a bird and closed the airlock hatch. Leia rolled her eyes as the other side of the airlock opened and the group walked into the Shera.

Most of the crew was waiting for them. Donald and Goofy rushed forward to hug Sora and Kairi, Cid stepped up to talk to Jacob about something, and Leon...

Rinoa and Leon's eyes met. Leon couldn't hide his shock. His eyes widened and his mouth fell open. The two took a step toward each other.

"Are... you this.... Leon person they told me about?" Rinoa asked, looking nervously at Sora and Kairi.

"Y-yeah," Leon stuttered. "C-can I show you a-around the ship?"

Rinoa took a sudden gulp of air. "S-sure."

Sweat poured down both of their faces as Leon took Rinoa's hand and the two walked off into the ship.

"What's up with them?" Sora asked, watching them walk off.

"I don't know..." Kairi muttered.

**On Radiant Garden...**

The town had been reduced to slums. The sky was black with smoke and soot. The windows were so obscured by dirt that they were as transparent as walls. Stormtroopers marched up and down some of the more rowdy streets before returning to the barracks laid around the base of the Citadel. Camps of Stormtroopers were placed all around Disney Castle, making escape impossible.

Sora, Kairi, and Jacob snuck down an ally and startled a group of rats, who scurried off into the sewers through a grate with a large hole blown in it.

"I'm not liking this," Kairi whispered. "Not at all."

"They treated Disney Castle's world better than this," Sora said. "This is horrible."

Jacob looked around the corner of the ally out into the street. "Clear. Come on."

The three shot out of the ally and across the street into another ally, slowly working their way closer to the Citadel.

"This is so screwed up," Kairi said. "We were only gone for... how long?"

"Two weeks," Jacob answered.

"Right. But I mean, come on. How did they do this much damage in that short of time?"

"There must be some sort of Resistance..." Jacob said. "That would explain the blaster burns along the wall," he added, jerking his head towards the black scars along the wall.

"Alright, well, it's Leon's job to find people to help us," Sora said. "It's ours to figure out how may troops are posted here."

"Yeah," Jacob said. "That doesn't mean that we can't do some other stuff along the way."

"G-Give me your money! All of it!!"

The group turned around and saw a teen with blond hair and a pony tail holding twin daggers. He had vibrant electric blue eyes and, oddly, a long money's tail extending from his rear. He couldn't have been a few months older than Sora and Kairi.

"Hurry up!! All of it!!"

Jacob arched an eyebrow and approached the boy. "You really think that you'll be able to rob us?"

"I'm not playing games here! Get to it!"

Jacob sighed. "Sora, if you please..."

Sora nodded and simply summoned his Keyblade into his hands.

The boy gasped and almost dropped his blades before he stuttered. "Y-you're S-Sora?"

"Yeah," Sora said as the Keyblade vanished.

"Oh boy... oh boy..... You-you've got to come with me. Please! I'm with the Resistance!"

"The Resistance?" Jacob asked.

"Yeah, we've already made contact with Leon and everyone else, and you've got to come with me!"

**Later...**

After silently following the boy through the streets, they reached yet another ally. A small three-step staircase lead to a door. The boy knocked on it.

A slit in the door slid aside. "Password?"

"Jingle bells. Batman smells. Rudolph laid an egg."

The slit closed and the door opened. "Proceed," a man in a black cloak said.

The group walked through the door, which the man closed behind them, and stepped into a dark, crudely cut tunnel that sloped steadily downward. "This way," the boy said unnecessarily, since there was only one way to continue. They walked down the passage that was almost pitch black except for the match that the boy struck. He pulled a candle out of his pocket and lit it, then tossed the match to the ground.

They walked for ages that seemed to Kairi to be hours because of the bleak silence of the walk before the reached a door. It was metal, and had a keypad, not a handle. The boy typed a few numbers onto the keypad. The door swung open. Quickly dousing the wick, the boy lead them inside.

The room he had lead them into was huge in scope. It was covered with flashing electronic devices and computers. Everywhere that there weren't computers, the wall was stark white. Several doors lead out of the oval shaped room, in and out of which went numerous people, who Sora, Jacob and Kairi assumed were members of the Resistance.

"What is this place?" Kairi asked as she spun around slowly to take in the depth of the room.

"Old labs," the boy answered. "Ansem and his apprentices used them years ago, but they went out of use about a year before Radiant Garden fell." He looked around. "I've got to go... take the elevator, then just go down the hall to reach the command center. See you guys around!"

"Wait!" Sora snapped as the boy ran off. "Where's the elevator?"

"Center of the room!" the boy called back over his shoulder.

The group looked down to see that a small oval shaped pad was floating a few inches above the ground. Sora and Kairi threw each other questioning looks before running to the center of the huge room and jumping onto the pad. Jacob followed them and jumped on just before the pad flew skyward. For the first time, the group looked up.

"Wow....."

The room wen up for miles. They must have taken that tunnel for way too long. Above them they could see small bridges that connected rooms on each floor and more white pads like their own zooming around between levels of the complex.

"The hell...?" Jacob muttered.

"More like heaven," Sora said. "Nerd heaven."

The pad seemed to know where to go, and it stopped near the middle of the room. A bridge extended to admit them access to whatever was on this floor. They stepped off the pad, which shot off to another floor instantly. Feeling uneasy, the group walked down the ramp and opened the door.

They stepped inside, and the ramp retracted behind them and the door closed. They walked slowly down a doorless hall until they reached a small, white, unimpressive looking door. They exchanged glances before opening the door.

The room consisted of numerous computers, TVs and one huge plasma flat-screen that covered the entire back wall. There were at least two people at every computer, and down by the plasma, they could make out the figures of Leon, Cid, Rinoa, and several other people.

"Come on," Jacob said, walking across the room. Sora and Kairi were quick to follow.

"Sora, Kairi," Leon said as they approached. "I'd like to introduce you to someone. Dr. Cid Kramer, leader of the Resistance."

"He stole my name," the Cid they knew whispered in Kairi's ear.

A man in a red vest wearing glasses approached. He had short brown hair and ice blue eyes.

"Master Sora," he said, giving a quick nod of the head. "And... Princess Kairi." To her he gave a low bow, at which Kairi blushed furiously. Cid stood upright again. "I've been leading this operation for the past two weeks since the Empire took over. May not seem like a long time, but it has been a very long time for us. To watch our world be taken over... Despite this, we've been doing what we can to stop the Empire. Leon here tells me that you've gained some sort of support from a Rebellion force against the Empire."

"The Rebel Alliance," Sora answered proudly. "We told them that we could create a distraction here on the surface long enough for them to attack the Empire's space forces with the element of surprise on their hands."

"Alas, we don't have the manpower to create your distraction," Cid sighed.

"I'd predicted that," Jacob said, stepping forward. "But I think I've got a plan."

Dr. Cid arched an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, I don't know who you are."

"Wow, gone such a short time and everyone's already forgotten you," Cid laughed.

"Jacob," Jacob said. "Cid's apprentice."

"I see," Dr. Cid replied. "And... your plan is?"

"Well, I'm correct in assuming that the Empire has been trying to break into Ansem's research data during their stay here, aren't I?" Jacob asked. Dr. Cid nodded. "Well, I'm also going to assume that them haven't accessed the information yet. Am I right?" Dr. Cid nodded again. "Well, what do you think would happen if they actually got their hands on the information?"

**Later...**

The plan was simple.

Sora, Kairi, Jacob, Max, Goofy and Irvine were to enter the computer system and find Tron. With his help, they would feed the Imperials fake files titled as Ansem's research would be. They would, in theory, be so excited by their 'victory' that commanding officers would be distracted long enough for the Resistance to make their move and attack. Hopefully, Leon, Rinoa, Donald and Tifa would be able to sneak into Disney Castle at the same time and rally the royal Knights and King Mickey.

The only problem was that everything had to happen at the exact right time.

Dr. Cid estimated that the Resistance could hold their own against the Empire and only sustain minimal casualties for about thirty minutes. They had to make sure that there was absolute pandemonium when the Rebellion arrived if their was any hope of them being able to destroy the blockade.

So Sora's team had to find Tron, create fake files, and feed them to the Empire with the exact timing, or other wise the Resistance would attack too early or too late. Everything depended on their timing.

"Oh, one last thing," Dr. Cid had said before they left. "We've already got some members in the system helping Tron defend the computer against hackers. I'll make contact with them and tell them you're coming."

Now Sora, Kairi, Jacob, Max, Goofy and Irvine were standing before another digitizing ray that had been built in the Resistance's base. An operator gave them a thumbs up before flipping a switch. A beam of light involved them as they were sucked into Space Paranoids.

**Well, now you've got some answers about all these crazy back-stories I've been setting up.**

**I don't own Chaos (a summon from various FF titles. I'm using his Dissidia version as a god in my story). I don't own Minerva (the goddess from FF VII - Crisis Core). I don't own the blond haired kid who Sora, Kairi and Jacob met. If you've played FF IX, you should know who he is. Even though it was stated in the chapter Dreams, I'll say it again since I got a PM about it: I don't own Rinoa or Irvine. **

**Also, I don't own Cid Kramer. He's Headmaster Cid from FF VIII. I'll be referring to him as Dr. Cid to avoid confusion with FF VII's Cid.**


	25. The Resistance on Radiant Garden

**Okay, we're going to start the next chapter now. If that wasn't clear to any of you out there.**

**After remembering that Fanfiction existed, I rushed this chapter terribly so I could get it out. Expect it to be terrible. Seriously.**

**Chapter 25: The Resistance on Radiant Garden**

**At the I/O Tower...**

"Loading.... Loading.... Six encoded life-forms being downloaded.... Please stand by...."

"Rikku, shut up with the whole computer operator thing."

"But it's FUN!!!"

"No, it's annoying."

"Party-pooper!"

"Quiet, you two! They're almost here!"

In a flash of light, Sora, Kairi, Jacob, Max, Goofy and Irvine had appeared within Space Paranoids. Sora and Goofy appeared as they usually did. Kairi's body was coved in hot pink circuit lines, her hair hanging out from under a helmet with a visor. Jacob's circuts were a darker blue than that which Sora and Goofy adopted, and his glasses were flashing like computer screens. Max's circuits were green, and he was sporting a sort of backwards baseball cap covered with flashing buttons. Irvine's circuits were yellow, and from his fedora hung a scope that followed Irvine's right eye.

"Wow, we look like something out of a cheesy science fiction flick!" Irvine said happily.

Jacob frowned as he looked at Irvine. "Subject: Irvine Kinneas. Age: Twenty Five. Blood Type: A.

Weapon of Choice: Shotgun. Enjoys: The company of women."

"What the heck?" Irvine asked.

"My glasses," Jacob replied. "The give readouts."

"Really? Cause' my scope's got X-Ray vision," Irvine said, looking mischievously at Kairi. Kairi gave him a swift kick in the groin. "Ow!!! It's a joke!! Kidding!!"

"Yeah, loosen up! It was pretty funny!"

The group looked in the direction of the voice to see three miniature girls hovering in the air near them.

"You guys!?!" Sora and Jacob cried in unison.

"That's right!" Rikku said. "The one.... (she counted on her fingers)... three and only Gullwings!"

The three of them had changed little in the digital world, only adopting colors that suited them. Yuna had light blue circuits, Rikku yellow, and Paine purple. Rikku's wings had disappeared and her scarf was whizzing around behind her like a helicopter's propeller.

"Yuney, is it just me or do they look a little pale?" Rikku asked.

"For the last time, every one here looks pale," Paine said angrily.

"Lay off, she's just messing with you," Yuna said. She looked at Sora's team. "All the main transportation systems in here are being watched, so we're gonna have to go to Tron on foot." She paused. "Well... you do."

"Can't you guys teleport or something?" Sora asked.

"We can," Paine replied. "But we can't take you with us. And someone needs to show you to where Tron is."

"Why didn't you just bring Tron with you?" Kairi questioned.

"Because _someone_ needed to guard the files!" Rikku insisted. "Now hurry up, he calculated that he could only hold his own for another thirty microcycles!"

"What?" everyone but Jacob and the Gullwings asked.

"Thirty minutes," Jacob answered. "We've got about two hours before the Rebellion gets here. We don't want the Resistance to be on their own for too long, so we'll have to be quick. You," he said, pointing to Rikku. "How long should it take to reach Tron?"

"An hour on foot," Rikku said. "But twenty minutes by light cycle."

"What's a light cycle?" Kairi asked curiously.

"Motor cycle," Sora answered. "But if the transportation systems are being watched-"

"Don't worry," Paine cut him off. "We've got a code that should shut down the security around the holding garage for long enough to get our bikes."

"How long since you left Tron?" Jacob asked.

"Er..." Paine glanced at her watch. "Five minutes."

"Then we've got five minutes to steal bikes," Jacob said. "Let's get moving!"

**In Leon's room at the Resistance's hide-out...**

"Five minutes left..." Leon muttered, glancing at his watch.

"What are you so worried about?" Rinoa asked. "You said it yourself: 'If anyone can pull this off, Sora can.'"

"Don't ever tell anyone that I gave him a compliment," Leon said.

Rinoa giggled. "Same old, same old, huh? Separated for a short eight years and you go back to your old emotionless robot self."

"Rinoa, so much has happened since you disappeared," Leon said. "Selphie didn't make it back either."

Rinoa was speechless. "What about-?"

"Zell and Quistis are fine. The both went off to other worlds."

Rinoa sighed. "What about Kairi? How's she doing?"

"I've talked to her as much as I could during the time she's been aboard the Shera with us," Leon replied. "Everyone agrees the she and Sora are in love."

Rinoa smiled. "Good for her."

"But they're in denial."

"... What?"

"They're both stupid enough that they ignore their feelings for each other."

"You're calling her stupid?" Rinoa asked, her voice raising dangerously.

"She's not as smart as we would have liked," Leon said, remaining calm. "And Sora's clueless." He looked at his watch again. "We'll have to finish this later. Time's up: they're starting."

**In the computer, twenty-seven minutes after we left our heros...**

"We're out of time!" Jacob yelled angrily as he ducked to avoid an explosion in the bunker's wall. "Finish with those files!"

"I'm trying, User Jacob!" Tron replied. "But this isn't as easy as it looks from the outside world."

"Just hurry!" he yelled again. "Hey! HEY!! PIXIE GIRLS!!! OVER HERE!!!"

Rikku, Yuna, and Paine swooped away from the battle and into the small bunker where the group was holding out. "Yeah?" Paine asked in her usual uninterested voice.

"We don't have time to fight them, we'll have to settle for holding them off," Jacob said. "Yuna, you take to the sky and lay down some cover fire. You two start chopping the legs of those Imperial viruses so that they trip themselves up. The rest of us I'll follow you in a second."

"'The rest of us?" Yuna asked. "I'd be more comforted if that didn't consist of just you, Sora, Goofy and Max."

"You got a better plan, hot stuff?" Jacob said angrily. "Get to work!"

The three girls nodded and followed orders. Sora ran over in their wake. "Jacob, we're losing."

"Thanks for the report, Mr. Obvious," Jacob rolled his eyes. "Just follow the girls and attack. Grab Max and Goofy and get them to come with you."

"What about Irvine and Kairi?!?" Sora asked, his voice raising unexpectedly.

"We'll come back for them later!" Jacob replied. "This is more important than them!"

"Kairi is a Princess of Heart!!" Sora yelled.

"You're the Keyblade Master, and unless you do your duty, a whole lot more people are going to lose their lives than Kairi and Irvine!!"

Max and Goofy joined in. "Sora, listen!" Max said. "Would you sacrifice the lives of everyone in the Resistance just to save those two?"

Sora scowled. "You two hold them back!" he ordered. He looked back at Jacob. "I've got to talk with this one."

"Sora, we're in the middle of a ba-"

Jacob's voice trailed away as the _Kingdom Key_ appeared at his neck.

"Sora?!?" Goofy asked. "What are you doing?!?"

"Getting some answers!" he replied. "Now go help those three!"

Max and Goofy nodded nervously and charged out of the bunker and into battle as Sora forced Jacob to the ground.

"Listen to me," Sora said. "I know that something is screwed up here. Rinoa said that she didn't know Leon on the Millennium Falcon. And when the met on the Shera, the both acted like they'd never seen one another in their entire lives. But in Kairi's dreams, she saw Rinoa. And she definitely knew Leon. So? Why is she lying to us? Do you ask her to keep a few secrets just to freak us out?"

Jacob just looked up at Sora for a few seconds, the only sounds around them being the vigorous tapping on a keyboard from Tron and the battle that was raging outside.

And then... Jacob started laughing.

"What? What's so funny?" Sora growled.

"Sora... it would be safe to assume that you're one of those kids who always tries to get a sneak peak at their birthday and Christmas presents, aren't you?"

Sora was completely bewildered. "....... What?"

Jacob gave a short laugh that sounded a bit more like a bark. "Never mind. We'll I guess I can give you a few presents early... man, if Ansem was still alive, he'd kill me..."

"Get on with it!" Sora shouted, regaining his more violent composure.

"Alright... long story short, Rinoa is Kairi's older sister."

**Elsewhere...**

"Irvine, do you see-?"

"Sshhhh. They're right on top of us. I think I can distract them, but you'll have to come in from behind and deliver the final blow."

Their bikes had been shot while the group had been riding through a large city, and because they had split up to avoid detection, no one else had come to save them. By the time everyone else realized that Irivne and Kairi must have gotten stuck, there wasn't time to go back for them.

Now, for the past ten minutes, Irvine and Kairi had been holding their breaths, ducking in and out of alley along different streets, trying to avoid the Imperial viruses that were swarming like lotuses trying to find them.

"Er... Irvine... I've never used my Keyblade."

Irvine arched a digital eyebrow. "Never?"

"Well... I killed a few really weak Heartless once, and I killed three Stormtroopers-"

"Perfect," Irvine said with a smile. "These suckers will be a cinch."

"But it was in self defense!" Kairi said. "I-I haven't got any combat training or anything like that! I'd have no idea what to do if I got into a real fight!"

"Kairi," Irvine said, partially just to make her stop talking for a moment. He looked thoughtful for a moment before he placed his hands on Kairi's shoulders. "I'm a sniper. Snipers always walk alone. It's just how things work for them. They live off adrenaline and fear of being discovered. One shot, one kill: that's what everyone says about us. But if that one shot misses, then _the sniper _is the one who's killed. So we use our fear; our natural instinct to survive; to keep us going. Without it, we'll never make the shot. Kairi... don't think. Just swing the Keyblade where it looks like it'll hurt the buggers worst. You'll know what to do."

Irvine looked away from Kairi and back around the corner of the alley in which they were hiding. "Are you ready?" Irvine asked.

Kairi hesitated. "Uh.... I-I guess."

"Good. Then loop around to the other alley and attack. I'll distract them with a few shots from this baby," Irvine said, hefting the shotgun he had taken from the Resistance's armory.

"Irvine..." Kairi muttered, trying to think of something she could say that would get her out of doing this.

"Look, if something happens, I'll save your pretty little head," Irvine said. "If you come back with one scratch on you, Sora'll probably kill me."

"Uh... what?"

"Aren't you two a couple or something?"

"What? No! We're... we're just friends."

Irvine sighed. "That's what they all say..."

**Back with the others...**

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

"Exactly that," Jacob replied. "Rinoa is Kairi's older sisiter. By eight years. I'll give you a little background: Rinoa got fed up with place life and snuck out several times. Around the time that Kairi turned two... yeah, that's when she started. She met Leon, who was then using his real name, Squall Leonhart, and the two fell in love. Squall was still the regulated, rule-oriented dude that he is now as a kid, but Rinoa's sort of care-free attitude sort of... interested him. Rinoa started sneaking out practicly every night to be with him and the few other friends that she made, but she never told any of them that she was the Princess. She went by her mother's name, Julia."

"How do you know all of this?" Sora asked.

"Because. I followed her half the time."

"I thought that you were supposed to be looking after Kairi," Sora muttered. "And that's another thing. How come you were appointed as a caretaker and bodyguard as such a young age?"

"Ah, Sora. Only so may sneak peaks," Jacob said in a tut-tut voice.

"Why are you even keeping secrets?" Sora asked. "Why can't you just tell us?"

Jacob didn't reply for a long time. Then he said, "Ansem the Wise. He... he made an Organization. No, not like Organization XIII. Different. An Organization of cleverly constructed lies that would protect the secrets of Light and Dark. He was afraid that he might die, so he wanted others to know the secrets incase he didn't have time to pass them on. I'm a member of the Organization."

"So it was your job to protect secrets about Light and Dark?" Sora asked.

"It _is _my job. And not just mine. A select few others. But we didn't just keep secrets about Light and Dark. Rinoa asked me not to tell anyone about her sneaking out of the castle. I obliged. However, the secret became much more important when Leon... Squall... entered the military on another world and found himself under the employ of Rinoa. If anyone knew of their prevues connection it would shatter the barrier between worlds."

"I still don't get it," Sora muttered. "There's something you aren't telling me."

"That should... Yes, I've got it!"

Sora looked away from Jacob at Tron. Jacob took the opportunity to give Sora a swift kick in the crotch and throw the teen off of him and into a wall.

"For the record," Jacob said as he stood, brushing himself off. "I could have done that whenever I wanted. What have you got for us, Tron?"

"I've managed to finish coding our fake files and I'm starting to filter them to the Imperials," Tron said as he resumed typing a mile a minute. "We've only got three minutes before the Resistance makes their move, so we've got to hurry."

**In the real world...**

Dr. Cid stood before a congregation of troops, all of them armed with swords and laser guns, as bullets would be ineffective against the Stormtrooper's armor. Everyone was looking jittery, and many looked as though they had never seen battle before.

Dr. Cid took up a microphone. "Everyone... everyone, can I have your attention please?" Silence was absolute. "I just wanted to say a few word to you all before the battle begins... but then I changed my mind. I'd like to call someone else up here. Someone who I know will do a better job of inspiring you than an old man like my self could ever do." Dr. Cid let out a little wheeze. "I'm getting to old for this sort of thing..." Some of the soldiers laughed at this, and Dr. Cid said two last words. "Squall Leonhart?"

Leon's eyes widened as he heard Dr. Cid say his name. Rinoa, who was beside him, couldn't help but giggle. "I told him..." Leon growled as he felt all the heads around him turn to look at him. "I told him not to use my name..."

"Oh, go on," Rinoa said, playfully shoving Leon in the direction Dr. Cid's direction.

Leon shot her an angry glance before continuing through the crowd. When he reached Dr. Cid, he quickly muttered the question "Why me?"

Dr. Cid chuckled. "I listened to a little recording of your speech at the Battle of the Gardens. Good luck, son." He quickly passed the microphone off to Leon before running off into the crowd.

Leon sighed and looked out at the congregation. "Er... hi everyone," Leon said. "Uh... the last time I ever stood before a group this large was in the middle of a battle. A battle every bit as grand as this one we are about to enter. The people there were also fighting for their home. Just like you." He paused to think for a moment. "I look out at our world... and I don't see much. That's because we've lost so much in the past. But... but our world is just as broken as we allow it to be. Already... peaces are coming back into place. Peaces we thought were lost. Never to be found again. Right now... right now, in the computer system of Radiant Garden, Princess Kairi is fighting alongside others to save this world. I'm sure this information doesn't surprise you. You've known that she was back ever since Sora saved our world. But someone else is here... Princess- No, Queen Rinoa of Radient Garden is amongst us, prepared to fight with us, and to lead us."

At this, there was instant uproar amongst the crowd. Quickly a few of the soldiers seemed to recognize Rinoa, and quickly lifted her up into the air so that everyone could see her. Rinoa shot Leon a glare that said, _"Okay, we're even."_

Leon smiled (Wait, what? He smiled? As in, actually SMILED?!? IT'S AN OMEN!!) and continued. "People like her... they give me hope. Hope that some day we may be able to rebuild Radiant Garden into the sanctuary that in once was. But to do that, we must first liberate it from the monsters who tear in apart."

A massive cheer went up, and Leon had to wait for a moment to continue. "Almost thirteen years ago now, this world was overrun by the Heartless. I changed my name then. I'm known now as Leon... but I'm sure most of you already knew that. Some of you may be old enough to remember what I was like when I was younger... I was a different person then. Very different. And I believe that until everyone who lived here before has returned to their homes, and their lives have been restored to the way they were, this world will be broken. I'm not the same person I was. And I swore all those years ago that I would never be that person again until Radiant Garden was restored. Help me win this fight... and I think that I'll try and make my self into the person I was until I fit right back into the spot on this giant jigsaw puzzle where I was all those years ago. I'm sure that many of you did similar things to yourself when we lost Radiant Garden. Well, then to you people... Today we take back more than Radiant Garden. We take back our home, our families, and ourselves. Fight. And win."

**In the Citadel...**

"You got any threes?"

"Er... no. Go fish."

"Damn... whatever."

"Got... any.... uh.... sixes?"

"No. Go fish."

"This game is so stupid."

"Yeah... got any secret files?"

"Er..... yes."

"What?"

"Yes. Yes! We hacked the files!"

"You're messing with me."

"No, no, seriously! We've got the files!"

"So... so you're saying that when we slack off and we leave the computer to do things on it's own, we get the files, but when we work day and night for two weeks on our own, we get nothing?"

"Hey, don't jinx it! Come on, we've got to report!"

**In the streets of Radiant Garden...**

"Men! Men, great news!" a commanding officer said to his squad. "Just got the word! The nerds who've been working on the computers in the castle have finally gotten their hands on the files!"

The Stormtroopers gave a cheer, but mostly because they knew that if they didn't they wouldn't get paid for that week.

"Boy, the things we do for this job," one soldier muttered to another.

"Seriously. This place sucks. How soon do we get transferred again?"

"I don't know, man."

"Yeah, well-" The trooper stopped as he looked off down the street. "... Do... Do you see that?"

The other trooper looked as well, and saw what looked like a mass of people charging in their direction. It looked like they were armed.

"I bet every bit of cash I have left that's the Resistance."

"What say we sneak away and go hide in a hole somewhere?"

"Works for me."

**A montage, so there's no specific time, but when people start talking, it'll have been ten minutes.**

Mayhem had overtaken Radiant Garden. With timing completely unexpected by the Empire, small Resistance squads had suddenly burst out of hiding places all over the city and attacked. Command was caught off guard, and by the time that anyone had gained the composure to submit orders, units all over the city had already submitted in surrender.

However, the battle was far from won. More units were deployed from the Citadel, and soon the streets were overflowing with the shabbily dressed and armed members of the Resistance and the armored and trained Stormtroopers of the Empire.

Civilians who were brave enough joined in the fight, while families and children hid in the secret nooks and crannies of the city.

Quickly the situation got completely out of control. But then again, that's war, isn't it? The Resistance members found themselves outnumbered and outmatched, quickly reducing themselves to panic and blowing off all the ammunition in their weapons. It only took ten minutes for half of the Resistance to be wiped out or captured.

Leon, Rinoa, Cid Highwind and Tifa were all clustered together on top of the synthesis shop in the marketplace, defending a small group of children who had been separated from their parents in the chaos. They had only just stopped running through the city a few moments ago when they spotted the youngsters.

"This is getting ridicules!" Cid muttered angrily as he wiped his sweaty forehead with an equally sweaty rag. "I feel like a character in one of those zombie apocalypse video games!"

Leon sighed as he looked down at the rest of the city below them. Buildings were on fire, people were screaming, and stray laser bolts whizzing randomly through the air, making the whole thing look like some sick fireworks display on Halloween.

"Hey... what are you thinking about?" Rinoa asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"The fight," Leon replied automatically.

"Really?" Rinoa pressed.

"I'm a tactician," Leon said. "I've got to keep my mind on the crisis at hand."

"You must have forgotten that I'm the only person in the universe who can read you, Squall," Rinoa giggled, yanking hard on his shoulder and turning him around. "I think that you're feeling like it's your fault people are getting hurt."

"Innocent ones," Leon muttered. "I didn't think that most of us would make it out of this alive."

"You're worried about something else, too."

"..... Sora and the rest haven't left the computer yet."

"How do you know?"

"I radioed Dr. Cid. He told me."

"My ears are burning," Cid Highwind said. "Did someone just bring up that bitch name stealer?"

"That would be me," Leon said. "You really need to stop cussing so much."

"I'll swear as much as I damn please! What's up with you? You've never had a problem with how I talk before!"

"I don't," Leon said. "But I'll bet those kids next to you do."

Cid suddenly remembered that they were guarding the small group of pre-pre-teens, and could only smile sheepishly.

"Really though," Leon said to Rinoa as the young kids with them tried to figure out what had just happened, "I wonder what's taking them so long?"

**Ten minutes ago...**

"Damn!" Jacob yelled as he ducked back inside the bunker. "They may have the files but apparently the forgot to turn off the viruses in this sector!"

"You mean we're stuck here?" Max asked.

"No, not exactly," Tron said. He pointed to the console on which he had been working on the fake files a few moments ago. "This can get you directly out of the system and back to the user world, but... I'd presume that you'd want to go after your friends, Kairi and Irvine."

"We do!" Sora said. "Well... I don't really know Irvine, but Kairi, heck yeah!"

"I don't know, I thought Irvine was kinda cute," Rikku giggled.

"No one asked you," Paine drawled.

"Look, I'm hopping on a light cycle and I'm backtracking to find them," Sora said. "Anyone who wants to head back to the real world- no offense, Tron-"

"None taken."

"- Can go ahead, but I'm going."

"Sora, don't be stupid," Max said. "You can't seriously think that we aren't gonna come with you?"

"All for one and one for all and that sort of thing!" Goofy ahyucked.

"Hey, we need a catch-phrase like that!" Rikku said.

"You mean something we say all the time?" Yuna asked.

"Don't worry, we've already got that," Paine muttered. "I tell Rikku to be quite, she does something annoying, and you break it up. We say those sweat lines every day."

"Well, you guys go ahead and rescue her," Jacob said. "I'm gonna go and do... something else."

"Wait," Sora said. "It your job to protect her. You haven't given her room to breath since she stepped foot on the Shera, and now when she's potentially in danger your just gonna walk out?"

"Huh. You're right," Jacob said. "That doesn't make sense, does it?"

".... Sssooooooo, you're coming?"

"I didn't say that."

"...... Wow, this story has more holes in it than the book_ Holes_."

"Say what you like about Lord Fortune's writing skills, Sora," Jacob said. "But I've got a Princess of Heart to save."

"I thought you said you weren't coming with us!!"

"I'm not!" Jacob said happily.

"Aw, screw you and your weird mind tricks," Sora muttered. "Come on guys, let's go."

And so Sora's troop walked out of the bunker into a small army of Impireal viruses, kicked some butt, and hopped onto their light cycles (except for the Gullwings; they fly) and sped off in the direction from which they had come from.

"Ah, such is life," Jacob sighed. "People just won't stand around and listen to a guy ramble anymore." He straightened up and turned to Tron. "Can this terminal take voice activation passwords?"

"Er... I suppose," Tron said. "Why? Are you of some significance in the user world?"

Jacob smiled as he tapped a few buttons on the computer briskly. "Don't tell anyone."

**Somewhere...**

In a flash of bright light, the large, circular, stark white, but depressingly empty room was suddenly occupied by Jacob. He looked around. "Huh. The doors are all opened. I guess Sora must have already found his way here. He looked up at the thirteen doors rounding the edge of the Cavern of Remembrance and sighed. "Too bad I don't have time to cross blades with Xemnas." He looked around at the secret door that led to the restoration site, no doubt crawling with Stormtroopers. "Alternate route time." He climbed up the stairs to the top brim of the room, looked out at the rising water around him, and jumped off the edge.

**In the streets...**

The same blond thief who had met Sora, Kairi and Jacob in the streets not a day ago charged down an ally towards an unsuspecting Stormtrooper, driving his twin daggers through the soldier's chest, which was not covered by heavy armor to allow for more flexibility.

"Ssshhhh," the boy hissed unnecessarily as the soldier fell over dead without another sound. The boy withdrew his daggers and poked his head out of the ally, quickly checking the street. Only a few soldiers fighting at the edge of the curve, and they wouldn't notice him. He smiled and ran across the street with practiced silence, and ducked into another ally between buildings to avoid detection.

But it seemed that Detection had found him.

"Aloha!!"

The devilish sounding voice came from nowhere, and suddenly the boy found a blue puffball of death flying into his face.

"Gah! Wha-? Getoff'erme!" he tried to yell angrily through the... whatever it was that had attached itself to his face.

"Neva nalla gwesta!" the thing said joyfully with a loud laugh.

The boy finally lost his footing and fell to the ground. The thing got off his face and stood on his chest instead. The boy looked to see a tiny little blue-furred creature with equally blue antenna sticking out of his head. "Bwaha ha ha ha!" the thing laughed, in a way that sounded both evil and undeniably cute at the same time. The thing held his hand up like a pistol, then realized that it wasn't a real gun, and instead adopted a position that looked like he was walking into a boxing match.

"What are you supposed to be?" the boy asked.

"Me Stitch! Me crush Imperial stinky-heads!"

The boy was hesitant, not quite sure if this creature was the real deal or some sort of ompa-lompa. "Er... Well, I'm not an Imperial. In fact, I'm sort of fighting against them. I'm with the Resistance."

"Resistance?" the thing asked. "What that? Sounds fattening."

The boy rolled his eyes and stood up, the little animal consequently falling to the ground. "Ih! No, wait! Stitch kidding! Stitch help!"

The boy looked at Stitch, and saw that he was making some of the biggest puppy-dog eyes ever known to the universe.

"Okay, just what are you?" the boy asked. "A cute ball of death?"

"No! Cute and _fluffy_ ball of death!"

The boy was totally bewildered.

"What your name?" Stitch asked.

"... Zidane. Zidane Tribal."

"Ooohhhhh! Your name sound crazy!" Stitch looked at the knives in Zidane's hands. "What those?"

Zidane couldn't help but laugh as he remembered someone else who had asked almost the exact same question. "They're my daggers."

"Daggers? They're tiny. Look kinda wimpy."

Zidane's attitude polarized instantly. "What to you mean, wimpy?"

"Me stick to guns and chain saws," Stitch said.

Zidane stared in a mix of complete confusion and amazement on his face. "What are you?"

"Me Experiment 626!" Stitch said proudly. "But Lilo name me Stitch!"

"You know what?" Zidane said. "You've lost me entirely. But I was getting kinda lonely walking around by my self."

"Oh! You want Stitch to help you kick Imperial butt?"

"... Yeah, if you wanna put it that way."

"Stitch does! Stitch does!"

Zidane shrugged. "Well then, come along."

Stitch gave another mad sounding but cute cackle and jumped up on Zidane's shoulder, and the two walked out of the ally and onto the next street.

**Well, there you have it.**

**So, Rinoa is Kairi's sister. Bet none of you saw that coming.**

**So, disclaimers. Don't own Space Paranoids, Tron, the film Tron, or Stitch. That all? I think that's all.**

**The ending may seem a bit out of place to you, but those two characters are going to play large rolls in the story, and I wanted to formally introduce them (plus I was bored, and wanted to write a few extra pages).**

**Oh yeah! Almost forgot. I don't own the Cavern of Remembrance, which was a secret area in KH2 FM+. If you didn't already know, it was an area where you could basically replay all Org. XIII boss fights. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go look it up on YouTube or something.**


	26. A Fight's Finish

**This is taking longer than I thought... Oh well. Here we go.**

**Chapter 26: A Fight's Finish**

**Somewhere on the surface of Radiant Garden...**

Jacob surfaced from the ice-cold water and pulled himself up onto a convenient rock. Then he looked up at the Citadel, it's huge structure reaching far above the Rising Falls, where Jacob was now standing. The young man could make out numerous Stormtroopers running along the many balconies of the castle, their start white uniforms a near perfect contrast to the tan and red colors of their new base of operations.

_"Alright... let's go."_

Jacob only paused to think those three words before charging at the castle, drawing twin laser pistols from his back pockets.

**In the streets of Radiant Garden...**

Zidane, Stitch mounted on his shoulder, moved through he alleys of the city like shadows, pushing up against the wall or ducking behind a dumpster whenever a group of Stormtroopers got too close. Whenever they found a strangler or two, Zidane stabbed them or Stitch picked them up and hurled them a few blocks away.

But what was a bit disturbing was that they weren't coming across any Resistance troops.

"Did they get wiped out?" Stitch asked.

"Dunno, little guy," Zidane had replied. "Maybe they're just hiding... if that's true, then that's the first good news I've heard all day."

"Kid, over here!"

Zidane whipped around (the sudden movement causing Stitch to fall off his shoulder) to see a man he only knew by appearance hiding behind a dumpster. How he had gotten there was beyond Zidane, because there seemed to be only an inch of space between the dumpster and the building it was pressed up against.

"Come on, you're with the Resistance, ain't ya?" the man asked. "Then move your ass! They could be here any second!"

Zidane, though still startled by the man's sudden appearance, knew he was with the Resistance. He nodded and beaconed for Stitch.

"There's a hole behind here, and a bunch of us are holding out down here. Come on!"

The man disappeared again, and Zidane had to get down on all fours and crawl behind the dumpster to notice the hole in the building. He quickly shuffled to the hole and slid through into the damp, dreary, dimly lit basement of the house.

The room was occupied by several children, most of them under ten years old, and four adults, two of which Zidane knew by name: Leon and Rinoa.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the man who had called Zidane said. "Cid Highwind, at your service. And here we got Tifa Lockheart and... Well, you'll know Leon and Rinoa from that speech, won't you?"

Zidane was only half listening to them. He had been instantly distracted by the children in the room. Most of them were huddled in the corners, whimpering. One of them just looked surly.

Leon's voice brought Zidane's attention back to the adults. "We're hiding out until right before the Rebel Alliance's strike. Then we're going topside to wreak some havoc on the Imperial forces without putting ourselves in the line of fire."

"I grabbed five pounds of C4 before we left the hideout!" Cid said happily. "I thought it was tobacco."

"Damn good thing you didn't light it," Tifa said sarcastically.

"Shut up! Point is all we gotta do is chuck this stuff all over the place and then set it off. If explosions all over the city doesn't distract the Empire, I don't know what will!"

"Ih! Ih! Can I set off big boom-booms?"

It was Stitch.

A few of the children livened up a bit at the sight of the small, cute, blue alien. Leon just rolled his eyes in annoyance. "You again."

"Oh! Aloha, Mister Leon!"

"Aw," Rinoa said. "That is so cute!"

Leon and Zidane snorted in amusement.

**Space Paranoids...**

"I thought you said this would be easy!" Kairi shouted angrily over the noise of laser fire.

"Hey, I only gave an oddly inspirational speech and told you to go whoop ass. I didn't say it would be easy."

Kairi sighed at Irvine's response, but didn't have much time to ponder his words before she had to duck to avoid a shot that whizzed through the digital air next to her.

The two had been completely overtaken by Heartless and Imperial viruses. The Heartless were so drawn to Kairi's Heart that they didn't even notice the viruses, and the two quickly made a good pair, even if they weren't very organized. Kairi and Irvine had been forced to take shelter in an abandoned apartment building.

"On a light note," Kairi said. "I didn't think that computers had cities in them like this!"

"Do you know anything about computers?" Irvine asked.

"All I know is that if you click on the W, it opens a thing where you can type on a keyboard and put letters on the screen. And if you click on the little letter icon, you can send the things you made in the W thing to other people."

"You don't have much technology on your islands, do you?"

"Oh, we have plenty. I just don't know how to use it."

"Heh, yeah, well... do... you notice anything... different?"

Kairi thought about it... the shooting had stopped.

"The must be coming inside," Irvine muttered, lifting his shotgun up off the floor. "You cover the elevator. I'll take the stairs."

"Right," Kairi said, standing up. She thrust her hand out into the space in front of her. "Er... It's not coming."

"Well, it appeared when you needed it, right?" Irvine asked.

"... Yeah."

"Well, it'll show up again, won't it?"

"I hope so..."

"You'll be fine," Irvine said. "Just stand next to the elevator, and if the door opens, your Keyblade should appear. I doubt Heartless will be smart enough to take the elevator, so you'll have the viruses."

"You mean the smarter, tougher ones?" Kairi asked. "... Can I take the stairs?"

"No. Shotgun'll let me stop them before they reach us." Irvine smiled. "Stop worrying. Like I said before, I've got your back."

Kairi smiled too, and she thought she might have been blushing if she weren't in a world where faces were permanently pale. "Thanks Irvine."

The cowboy tipped his hat quickly before motioning for the door out of the small room where they were hiding out. "There are two elevator shafts. You'll have to stay in between them and wait for anyone to come out. I'll take the stairs, which will be just down the hall. If things get way out of hand, call for me."

The two cautiously approached the door, and pushed it open. The hallway was clear of enemies. Irvine held up the shotgun and started down the hall. "Stay with the elevators," Irvine said, motioning at the two elevator doors as he passed them. They were both on the same wall, and Kairi quickly moved to stand between them. Irvine, about ten meters down the hall, gave Kairi a quick wave before opening the door to the stair case and disappearing from sight.

Kairi couldn't help but be unnerved by the silence that had completely overtaken the building. She couldn't hear anything, accept her breath and the beating of her heart, which she swore was pumping faster than at any other moment in her life.

_Ding._

The sound indicated an elevator arriving. The subtle noise cause Kairi to literally jump a few feet into the air. Irvine quickly glanced into the hall, then disappeared again.

She could hear the door on her right opening. She looked away from the the door through which Irvine had disappeared and watched as the door seemed to grind open in slow motion.

Kairi closed her eyes and shook her hand violently. She opened her eyes. No Keyblade.

_"Come on,"_ she moaned subconsciously. She closed her eyes again, and opened. Nothing.

The elevator doors opened fully, and two viruses stepped out, guns raised.

Kairi did the only thing she could thing of.

She threw herself at the nearest one's legs, tripping him up. She snatched the blaster out of his hands and before either of them could react further, she had shot them.

Irvine poked his head out into the hall to check on her, but seeing that she was the one who had shot, he disappeared.

The viruses disappeared after a few seconds, their stark white bodies almost perfectly resembling Stormtroopers. Kairi was only granted a few moments to breath heavily before another_ ding_ was heard and the other elevator opened.

**Elsewhere...**

Sora's group speed through the glowing digital city searching for any sign of Kairi or Irvine. The team had split up a few minutes ago to make things easier: Goofy and Max went together, Yuna and Paine split away from the rest of the group, and Sora and Rikku were stuck with each other. And Rikku hadn't shut up the entire time.

Most of the girls questions were about Sora and Kairi's love life, and no matter how many times Sora said they weren't involved that way, she persistently continued to pester him. He eventually told her to fly overhead and look for Kairi and Irvine from a different angle, and she had obliged.

Most of the civilian programs, Sora noted, were a bit oblivious to his existence, only interested in talking amongst themselves and busily walking to wherever they were going. Obviously, anything that was outside of their daily schedule was none of their business.

_"I guess asking them if they had seen Kairi or Irvine would be pointless,"_ Sora thought.

Then Rikku swooped down from the sky to report. "I saw a whole lot of Heartless and Imperial viruses a few blocks to our left."

Sora didn't even take the time to respond before gunning the engine of his light cycle and speeding to the next intersection, where he abruptly turned to the left, and, hopefully, in the direction of Kairi.

"Hey! Slow down!" Rikku yelled as her scarf-propeller whizzed franticly to keep up with Sora.

"Go and find the others and bring them with you," Sora said.

"Are you sure it's them?" Rikku asked.

"Yes," Sora replied. "I can feel it."

Rikku gazed at Sora doubtfully for a few seconds before nodding and flying off.

**In the building...**

"Screw it!" Irvine shouted, hurling the body of a virus at the approaching onslaught of Heartless. "This is really messed up!"

Kairi didn't say anything. Primarily because she was half conscious and hanging over Irvine's shoulder.

The viruses had proved to be too much for Kairi, and with her Keyblade M.I.A., she had been quickly overrun. Irvine had fallen back to help her, but soon the shear numbers of the Heartless and viruses started to get to him. He had retreated farther into the building, and was now pinned down in a small living room with no way out... but the window.

_"No way I'm making that jump alive."_

He had barricaded the door to the room, but it wasn't going to hold much longer. He sat down and placed Kairi gently on the floor next to him. "Been an interesting day, wouldn't you say?"

Kairi's eyes seemed to be trying to focus, but it was impossible for her. She could see the blurry image of Irvine in front of her, she could hear him talking... but she couldn't make out what he was saying. She could hear the loud banging on the door to the room, but she didn't have the slightest idea what it meant. She could see when Irvine stood up and pointed his shotgun at something, but she couldn't see what. She saw him lower the gun as someone with blue armor and spiky hair sticking out of his helmet ran over, sword in hand.

"S... So... ra?"

"She got a bad hit on the head," Irvine said. "She might have a concussion."

Sora knelt down next to his friend. "Hold on Kairi... I'm gonna get you out of here."

"S... Sora... Heartless......."

"See what I mean?" Irvine asked.

"Come on, help me with her," Sora said, trying to lift Kairi. "I killed most of them but more are sure to show up any second."

"Alright I'll... Hold on... Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That beeping."

Irvine cautiously started walking towards the door and into the hallway. He stepped out... to see a bomb with a timer on it.

0: 12 to detention.

"SHIT!" Irvine yelled. "SORA!! GRAB KAIRI AND JUMP THE WINDOW!!"

"What?"

Irvine came ripping into the room. "Duck!" Sora quickly obliged and Irvine shot a window open.

"What was that for?" Sora asked.

"There's a bomb! We're jumping!"

"A bomb?"

"Yes! The dangerous thing that goes boom! Let's GO!"

Sora scooped Kairi up of the ground and turned just in time to see Irvine leap out the window. "Come on, Kairi." Clutching the girl tightly, Sora climbed the threshold of the window and flung himself from the twenty-first floor of the building just as that floor and the two adjacent to it went up in blue-colored digital flames.

Sora shielded Kairi with his own body, but only a sudden wave of heat and the weakened shockwave of the blast disturbed him.

Oh yeah. There was still the long fall to the street below.

Well, crap.

"Sora!"

It was Irvine.

But the voice had come from above him.

Sora looked around to see that the Gullwings had grabbed him and were struggling to keep him in the air.

"Don't miss!" Irvine shouted.

_"Don't miss?" _Sora thought. _"Don't miss what?"_

He looked down at the rapidly approaching ground to see that Goofy and Max had somehow produced a trampoline and were carrying it to try and break his fall.

"This is gonna hurt."

Sora slammed into the trampoline, flipping over so that he shield Kairi from the blow. Despite the fact that the bouncyness of the trampoline did break his fall, it still hurt on initial impact.

"Man, that was a long fall," Max said as Sora climbed of the trampoline after a few bounces. "You okay?"

"Better than I could have been," Sora said, still clutching Kairi's half conscious body. "Where did you get the trampoline?"

Max and Goofy glanced at each other, then back at Sora, and said "You don't wanna know."

**Back in the real world...**

Jacob held onto one of the many pipes that protruded from the side of the Citadel and slowly inched his way to the next balcony. He reminded himself not to look down, but then he remembered that when you tell someone not to look down, they inevitably look down...

Too late. Jacob glanced over his shoulder at the ground... and he couldn't see it. It was blocked from view by the clouds.

_"Well, on the bright side, if I fall I'll have plenty of time for my life to flash before my eyes."_

Jacob looked up and continued to inch carefully along the pipe. He looked to his right. Only about ten meters to his destination. He'd take a quick rest there, then move on.

He looked directly above him. He didn't see anymore Stormtroopers with jet packs trying to find him, so apparently when he had fallen ten stories a few minutes ago they had assumed he had died.

Jacob couldn't help but grin at the thought as he continued to slowly move towards his temporary respite.

**In the streets, far, far below...**

Cid and Leon ducked out of sight as a small group of Stormtroopers came marching past the man hole in which they were hiding.

"Why do we have to set this stuff in the sewer?" Cid asked, disgusted.

"We don't have time to set them up right before the Rebellion gets here, but we also need to set them off about three minutes before they arrive."

"Well, if they're on time, it'll be in five minutes. And we've only set five of the seven!"

"Then let's hurry, Mr. Mouth," Leon said angrily as he dropped a charge of C4 heavily onto the dry ground at the edge of the river of human wastes. "Let's move up."

**Back at the safe house...**

Tifa had also left to plant charges, leaving only Rinoa, Zidane and Stitch with the children. Zidane and Stitch had so far done a good job of cheering the youngsters up. Rinoa, however, was thinking about something else.

Squall- No... Leon had said that Sora and Kairi hadn't come out of the computer yet. What could be keeping them?

Rinoa looked to a small desk in the basement where the others had left a radio with which Rinoa could contact them. She grabbed it and changed the frequency. "Hello? This is Rinoa, and I'd like to speak with Dr. Cid, over."

"Uh, negative, the commander is extremely busy right now, over," an operator said.

"Look, can you just figure out if Sora's team has come out of the computer system or not yet?"

"Can I put you on hold, over?"

"It's a radio, smart ass."

"Right. One sec-"

The line cut and Rinoa waited.

"Uh, yes. They just left the system, over."

**In the Resistance's hideout...**

"So that Jacob kid skipped on us?" Irvine asked. He didn't sound angry. More like... amused.

"Yeah," Sora replied. "He was real weird about it, too."

The group, plus the Gullwings and minus Kairi, who they had left in a small medical ward (not because she was hurt badly; just because they needed to leave her somewhere), was swiftly climbing a long stair case that, Dr. Cid told them, lead to the surface so that they could start participating in the battle. They had been given a radio so that if anything major happened they would be able to contact someone.

But before they had even reached the top of the flight of stairs, their radio crackled to life.

_"Alert all Resistance troops! Stay clear of the following areas by at least ten meters!"_

"That's Leon!" Sora said.

Irvine swiftly pulled the radio from where he had hung it on his belt and turned up the volume. Everyone stopped climbing instantly.

_"I repeat, stay clear of the following areas by at least ten meters! Main Street, the Marketplace, Clover Rd., Ellipsis Dr., Topside Rd., Ansem St., and 42 St.! Again, stay clear of Main Street, the Marketplace, Clover Rd., Ellipsis Dr., Topside Rd., Ansem St., and 42 St.! High explosives have been set and are going to be blown in one minute!"_

The transmission stopped.

Sora snatched the radio out of Irvine's hands. "Leon! Do you copy? It's Sora! Leon, come back!"

There was silence. Then...

_"Sora? Where the hell have you been?"_

It was Cid.

_"Give me that, Cid... Sora! Glad you made it out of the computer!"_

Leon again.

"What did you guys do?" Sora asked.

_"We dumped C4 all over the place. Thought it would be a fitting distraction, no?"_

Max snatched the radio away. "You sound uncharacteristically happy," he commented.

"Men and their explosives," Rikku muttered.

_"Tifa ran off to set some, but we haven't heard from her since she called in about her bomb's location..."_

**Elsewhere...**

Tifa was knocked out cold. After she set her last bomb and contacted Leon about the location, she started to sneak out of the alley where she had set the charge. Unfortunately, a Stromtrooper had seen her and thrown a bomb of some sort. Before she could react, the device detonated and the issuing explosion hurled her through the wall of a nearby building. The trooper hadn't bothered to check if his victim was still breathing, and he moved on.

But Tifa was waking up. Something had roused her. It was coming from the radio that had fallen a few feet from her.

_"-stay clear of the following areas by at least ten meters! Main Street, the Marketplace, Clover Rd., Ellipsis Dr., Topside Rd., Ansem St., and 42 St.! Again, stay clear of Main Street, the Marketplace, Clover Rd., Ellipsis Dr., Topside Rd., Ansem St., and 42 St.! High explosives have been set and are going to be blown in one minute!"_

_"One minute..." _Tifa thought, her mind working slowly. _"To what?"_

She realized that her legs were hurting like crazy. She looked down at them; a beam from the celling had fallen on them.

Tifa looked away from her legs and up at the ceiling. Most of it had been blown away, and splinters from the wood were scattered all over the ground where she lay, and some were even in her.

She looked to her left. A hole was blown in the wall, and in the alley beyond she could see some plastic explosives with a remote detonation receiver stuck into them.

_"Oooohhhhh... that's what it's one minute to."_

Tifa tried to move her legs. The beam weighed too much. She tried to sit up. Splinters all over her mid-section prevented this.

_"So I'm just... gonna die."_

She could hear something on the street. Sounded like an engine. No, it had stopped.

Footsteps.

"... Tifa?"

_"I know that voice."_

Suddenly the beam was picked up off her legs and hurled away by a man dressed in a black jump suit with an equally black helmet covering his face. Strong arms tenderly scooped her up off the ground and swiftly carried her out to the street. The man sat her down on a large motor cycle and quickly jumped on behind her, one arm grabbing her shirt and the other grabbing the handlebars.

The engine started.

Then Tifa blacked out.

**On the Citadel, a few minutes earlier...**

Jacob plopped heavily down on the balcony, thinking about how long it must have taken him to reach this spot.

_"No, it couldn't have been more than thirty minutes."_ He looked to the sky. _"The Rebellion would have attacked."_ His thoughts paused. _"Damn, I scaled the castle without using any proper stairs or elevators in less than thirty minutes. With Imperials attacking me half the time. Scoreboard!"_

He stood and turned around. The glass door behind him had long been shattered. He stepped through.

It was the Royal bedroom. A formerly beautiful room was torn to peaces. The four-poster bed's sheets covered in claw marks. The rug had been torn in two. The door to the bathroom had been knocked off it's hinges. In fact, the only thing about the massive room that wasn't destroyed was...

Jacob reached for it. It was sitting where Queen Julia had always kept it. Always.

Sheet music. For an original composition. He picked it up and skimmed it quickly, recognizing every note and every word of the song.

"Rinoa will want to see this."

He quickly placed it back down, making a mental note not to leave without it. Then he continued.

This floor was bobby trapped, he knew. He still remembered the locations of the traps as if it were yesterday. Taking off down the hallway outside of the room, he carefully skipped every other step on the first flight of stairs he encountered. If he recalled correctly, it would be the last staircase he would have to climb before he got where he was going.

At the top of the staircase, he quietly swung the heavy brass door open and stepped in.

An elevator. Jacob stepped in and the device activated automatically, slowly beginning to grind upwards.

_"Towards control."_

The very top floor of the castle was a technological wonder. It was filled with devices that could control electricity, water power, lighting, and pretty much everything else about the world. Very few people knew about it. If the Empire had searched the Citadel well, they would have found it.

And Jacob was betting they had used it.

The elevator stopped. The environment of the room he stepped into hadn't changed since he last came there thirteen years ago. Still small, still dark, still sporting a small door that he knew lead to a hallway. No... something had changed... he didn't remember that statue.

It was the most realistic sculpture he had ever seen. It was a girl, perhaps sixteen, with blond hair tied back in a pony tail and blue eyes, wearing a sleeveless red dress. The dress didn't cover her shoulders, and was instead tightly bound around her lower body, making her features easily distinguishable.

_"Amazing detail,"_ he thought mildly.

Then Jacob noticed that she was breathing.

He couldn't help himself; the touched her cheek. It was fleshy. But the girl continued to stare off into space, unblinking, unflinching.

Jacob looked her over with curiosity. What could cause the girl to be so still? And why was she here? A guard? No, she wasn't appropriately dressed.

He looped around her and looked at her back. He lifted the pony tail and glanced her neck... ah, there it was.

A mind control chip.

Jacob looked around carefully to make sure there weren't any cameras or traps or anything before carefully taking hold of the chip and drawing it out of the girl's neck.

The girl fainted. Jacob dropped down next to her and looked at her neck again. The place where the chip had been implanted was bleeding slightly.

Jacob reached into one of the many pockets on his cargo pants and pulled out a small box of Band-Aids. Quickly slapping one onto her, he propped her up on the wall and wove his hand franticly in front of her, creating a subtle breeze.

It took a few moments, but the girl began to awake. When her eyes opened, they looked deeply confused and troubled.

"You alright?" Jacob asked.

"Wh... Where am I?" Her eyes were unfocused as she said this, almost as though she was trying to look through Jacob and at the ceiling.

"Wow, only just removed the device and you're already asking questions," Jacob said.

"Head... hurts..."Suddenly the girl's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she fell over. Jacob caught her and picked her back up, holding her lightly.

"I'd expect," Jacob said with a chuckle. "You've been wearing a mind control device."

"I can't remember a thing..."

Jacob arched an eyebrow. "Amnesia? Uncommon... but not unheard of."

The girl shook her head gently before saying "My... my name... my name is Terra..."

**In the safe house, waaaaay down below...**

Leon and Cid crawled thought the hole and into the basement.

"Did you set the bombs?" Zidane asked as their feet hit the ground.

"Yeah. Is Tifa back yet?" Leon said.

"No," Rinoa replied. "You aren't going to set it off until you know she's clear, are you?"

"Rinoa, we've got less than two minutes before the Rebels arrive. I'll put if off for... another minute, but then-"

"Kaboom!" Cid said, a bit too over zealous.

"You don't even care that Tifa is out there?" Rinoa asked.

"Tifa will be fine, she's gotten out of tighter fixes than this before!" Cid chuckled. "I should know."

Suddenly, Leon's radio sounded.

_"Squall? Squall, do you copy? This is Dr. Cid."_

Squall grabbed the radio off his belt. "I copy, Cid. What is it?"

_"I just received the news. Rebel forces will arrive in the system in exactly thirty seconds!"_

"Squall, don't!" Rinoa cried, but it was too late: Leon had drawn the remote detonator and pressed the button.

**On 42 St....**

The bike hadn't gotten clear. The driver swerved as chunks of concrete and wood flew through the air. A huge chunk of asphalt slammed into the biker's helmet, launching it off.

Stunned, the driver's hand released the accelerator and the bike skidded to a halt. Tifa was thrown from the vehicle, as was the driver.

The man landed next to Tifa, but remained conscience. Stumbling, he got to his feet and walked over to his bike. He easily lifted it up into an upright position and started to push it towards Tifa, when he heard a voice.

_"Cloud."_

"Shit!" the driver gasped, dropping to the ground. He clutched his upper left arm in pain, as though it had just been shot... or worse.

_"You can't run forever."_

The pain stopped just as suddenly as it came. The man stood, relinquishing his hold on his arm. He looked at Tifa.

"No," Cloud Strife said, frowning. "I never ran. Not really." His eyes narrowed as he looked at his arm. "You're the one who's hiding."

He quickly picked Tifa up and walked back to the bike, started the engine, and drove away.

**I don't own Cloud. Also don't own Terra, who most of you younger readers won't know because she's from FF VI. I haven't decided if I'll use Terra's blond appearance instead of her mist green hair. If you don't know anything about her, look her up on the Final Fantasy wiki. Then vote on the poll which will be appearing on my profile right after this. I'll go back and change this chapter if the green color is voted.**


	27. The Rebellion Arrives

**Okay, after that long revision period that I know you all hate me for, I'll get back to the main story. **

**Chapter 27: The Rebellion Arrives**

** On the main control floor of the Citadel... **

"Sir! Just received word! The Resistance set their bombs off a thirty seconds early!"

"Hmm," the commanding Imperial officer murmured. "Were our bomb squads clear yet?"

"Uh... no sir," the lower officer reported nervously.

"Pity," the commander said, uncaring. "Still," he muttered, walking towards the huge wraparound window that gave a view of the entire world. "Amusing to think that _they_ thought we wouldn't have taken radios from our captives."

"Well... maybe they did think that, sir," the other officer suggested.

"Wait... perhaps it could have been a distraction?" the commander asked, whipping around to face the man. "Good thinking! Quick, send out a new message! There are probably more bombs in the city!"

"Yes sir!" the officer said hastily before running to the elevator that would take him down to the control room.

The elevator stopped, and the officer walked out. The control room consisted entirely of computer consoles and giant touch-screens, and every single one of them was being manned by another Imperial officer in grey.

"Hey, everyone!" the officer shouted. "Put everything on hold! Send a message to all forces! There are possibly more bombs in the city!"

Everyone quickly stopped whatever they were working on and rushed to a communication console, everyone contacting a different squad leader. The officer who had just made the announcement also ran to a computer, and no one even noticed the incoming messages:

_"SOS! SOS! Fleet is under attack by Rebel Alliance forces!"_

Well, two people did.

_"Heh... I bet Leon thought of the bombs,"_ Jacob thought as he ducked behind a computer to avoid being seen as he and the girl he had rescued, who believed herself to be named Terra, worked towards the elevator.

"Why are we sneaking around?" Terra asked in an non-understanding whisper. Jacob hadn't taken the time to explain the situation.

"Because, if they see us they'll call men with guns and armor to kill us," Jacob replied gently. "Come on."

They pressed on, keeping their heads low as the many officers continued to send out the message to troops in the city.

Jacob and Terra quickly got into the elevator and, before anyone even noticed they had been there, began the accent.

"Where are we going?" Terra asked.

Jacob didn't reply.

**At the same time, in the Resistance's hideout...**

"Sora, are you sure about this?" Goofy asked nervously.

"Look, the sooner the Rebellion breaks through the blockade, the sooner we get backup and win this fight," Sora said as he and Goofy walked down a long hall. "Every one else will do fine on the surface, but the Rebellion will need some rear support. You'll control the mini-gummis, and I'll drive and shoot."

"But Donald usually flew the mini-gummis," Goofy replied.

"We don't have much of an option," Sora said. "Donald's helping out in the medical ward with Merlin. So you're taking the mini-gummis."

"Who's gonna watch the radar?" Goofy asked.

"We'll do without it," Sora answered. "Besides, there'll be no way to distinguish Rebellion ships and Imperial ones on a radar."

They reached the end of the hall and the door opened. A large hanger met their eyes. It was occupied by three one-man fighter ships and two much larger Highwind Class gummi ships, both Level Eight. Mechanics and six pilots rushed to their ships, three going into the same H.C. 8.

Sora and Goofy walked to the remaining Highwind and clambered aboard through the rear entry ramp, which shut automatically behind them.

**At the same time, in command central...**

Dr. Cid was franticly running from officer to officer, trying to give out orders and organize an extraction for all troops still in the field. Unfortunately, most of the radios had been confiscated and they were still trying to find a frequency that the Empire hadn't tapped into yet.

It was time to resort to something else.

Dr. Cid requested a radio and sent out a message. "Squall? Squall, you there?"

After a few moments, a voice came back. _"Yeah, Cid, I hear you. What?"_

"Give your location in sector code. We're sending 4x4s to begin extraction."

_"Code? .... Alpha bravo 61. 0-97-4."_

"How many of you are there?"

_"Ten. We have children with us."_

"Roger. Sending extraction units as soon as we can, along with an extra van to pick up those kids. We're trying to get to other groups but it appears you're the only ones who haven't either lost their radio or been captured."

**At the same time, in the Resistance's garage...**

Several of the soldiers remaining in the base clambered into 4x4 jeeps with mounted fifty cal.s on the back. Others got into the back of troop transportation vans. The rest of Sora's group was there.

"Hey, you guys fighters?" a officer asked. The group nodded. "Well, we're low on man power so hop in something!"

Irvine laughed and hefted his shotgun onto his shoulder. "No problem."

"We'll give arial support," Yuna said, pointing to her two comrades.

"Give me a gun and I'll cover one of the vans," Max said. "Sword won't do much good out there."

"Here," the officer said, taking a laser rifle off it's holder on his back and tossing it to Max. "I ain't gonna need it."

Irvine jumped into the passenger seat of a 4x4, the driver and main gunner unfamiliar, though eerily alike: like clones. Max climbed into the back of one of the vans and walked through it, sitting down in the passenger seat and rolling the widow down. The driver looked at him skeptically but decided not to say anything. Rikku, Yuna, and Paine took to hovering above the one other van, which didn't have a gunner.

The large garage door opened and the vehicles sped out, bursting into the streets of Radiant Garden through what had been disguised as a building's brick wall. They took off down the road and along the very rim of the city, feet away from the wall that overlooked the Great Maw.

"Wait a sec'..." Max muttered, looking out the window.

Disney Castle.

"Wow. Can't believe we forgot that."

"Eh? Forgot what?" the driver asked.

Max didn't reply. He looked out at the vast, empty landscape that reached out across the world, purple colored rock broken only by Disney Castle and the large, dark castle in the distance. The castle was surrounded by fox holes that were most likely filled with Stormtroopers.

"Kid, forgot what?" the driver asked again.

Suddenly, the windshield shattered as a laser blast flew through it and into the driver's forehead, killing him. Stormtroopers on the roofs revealed themselves, opening fire on the small group of cars.

Irvine started firing at the roofs from his seat as the 50 cal.s on each of the three jeeps started shooting as well. The two melee-prefering Gullwings flew away from their van and to the roofs while Yuna began flying in circles around the van, shooting at the troops.

Max's van, without a driver, swerved wildly over the edge of the wall and landed outside the city and on the baron wasteland near the Great Maw.

The van ground to a halt, Max breathing heavily and clutching his seat belt.

After the initial shock of the jump, Max un-buckled and clambered out of the van. He stood motionless for a few moments, thinking that he might hurl. No.... wait!..... No, he was good. He glanced up at the wall. It was too high to scale. He looked at the truck. It was still in good shape. He looked down the Maw.

Disney Castle.

The bad guys would see him and come after him soon.

"Well, only one option now."

**With Leon and company, minutes later...**

Zidane and Stitch were sitting in the corner with a few of the children, trying to cheer them up a bit while Leon paced endlessly paced near the radio. Cid leaned against the wall near the secret hole that lead to the alley puffing on a cigar, and Rinoa stood near the stair case that lead upwards into the rest of the building, worrying about Tifa.

"This is less than ideal..." Cid said sarcastically as he dropped finished cigar to the ground and stepped on it. "I'm all out."

"Just as well," Leon said. "That stuff could have started seeping out by now."

"Aw, shut up. It'll look like fire or something."

"And the smell of tobacco?"

"Uh..."

"Exactly." Leon said. He paused before saying "Stitch."

The little blue alien looked his way. "Ih?"

"Go check the street and see if we've got company."

Stitch nodded and scaled the wall and climbed out of the hole.

He was back in ten seconds.

"Yes! Company! Good kind!"

"Good kind?" Rinoa asked.

"Resistance cars! Big guns!" Stitch said happily, clapping his hands.

"The extraction units?" Cid asked.

"Ih! Ih! Ih!"

Leon and Cid started for the stair case, Zidane and Rinoa motioning for the children to follow. Stitch jumped onto Zidane's shoulder again as he brought up the rear of the group and they walked into the main floor of a somewhat bombed-out building.

Literally stepping through a gap in the wall, they all ran into the street and over to the van, which was surrounded by two jeeps. The driver of one of the jeeps stood up in his car.

"Move you're asses! Let's go! We've lost two cars already and they're right behind us!"

Rinoa and Zidane lead the kids into the van as Cid and Leon noticed the three Gullwings.

"Yuna! Down here!" Leon ordered.

The pixie swooped over and nodded. "Yes?"

"Where are Sora and his team?"

"Kairi's back at the base, knocked out for all we know, Donald's helping out in the medical ward, Sora and Goofy are going into space, and Max and Irvine's cars crashed a few miles back."

**Elsewhere, at the same time...**

Irvine and his two comrades sat down to rest behind the cover of a house as an Imperial guard marched by.

"How's your leg?" Irvine asked one of the men.

"Just fine, sir," the man said with a voice that bordered on a rough British accent. He was clutching his shin where a laser had literally flown through him and destroyed the brake pedal, which had resulted in their crash. "Broken bones ain't nothing new to me. I have more laser burns on my skin than bones in my body, I'd reckon."

"Would you?" Irvine asked. He glanced at the gunner. "You two look exactly the same, if you haven't noticed."

"Don't worry, we'd noticed," the gunner said. "It's a bit of an awkward history, sir. You see, me and my mate here were both part of an commando squad. Served an army that was a bit of a predecessor to the Empire. This intergalactic bounty hunter, by the name of Jango Fett, got himself a high price to donate his DNA to a little project, see? To make an army of clones. Thousands. Millions, in fact. We're remnants of that army. Defected not but ten years ago. Lost our faith, in a manner of speaking. Commanding officer stabbed in the back by a higher government official, and we're forced onto the side we thought we were fighting. Most of our 'brothers' were created to be obedient, so they had no choice but to go along with the change. We was created to be different though, we was. Special was the word they used for us. Hardly any emotions, but with a bit more judgment than others. Sorta grew out of our programming though. Our leader had enough of a real Heart to go around, right? Became individuals, we did."

"No other word for it," the driver finished. "We're tin men who got 'earts from Oz and turned against our creator."

"More than one word," Irvine said. "Interesting story though."

"We was in a squad of six, we was," the driver said. "Not counting our leader."

"Names?" Irvine asked.

"We ain't got names," the gunner replied, a hint of anger in his voice. "We got production numbers." He spat on the ground. "That was a bit of a bitch, that was. We fixed ourselves some nicknames. So you can call me Slammer."

"He was our squad's heavy gunner specialist," the driver said. "I was the one who ran all of our close quarters operations."

"You didn't run them," Slammer said, smirking. "You just got all the neat crap to play with."

"Yeah, whatever," the driver said. "I was Blaze."

" 'Cause you got a freaking flame thrower," Slammer said sarcastically as he glanced out from behind the cover at the street. "I don't see any whites, so let's go."

The three stood, Irvine loading his shotgun, Blaze drawing a pistol and throwing an arm around Irvine's shoulders for support, and Slammer hefting the un-mounted 50 cal. with his own two hands.

"Let's move," Irvine said, and the three slowly set out.

**At the same time, in the Great Maw...**

The numerous Stormtroopers hiding out in their fox holes waited. Several had sniper rifles that were pointed at windows all over the Castle. They had found out a few days ago that the shield was so weakened that it only blocked out large things such as missiles. Lasers would sail right through with slightly reduced momentum. They would charge right into the thing, but the front gate was literally fifty feet above their heads. Plus, even if they could get in, the knights would have the home turf advantage and would probably overrun them.

But suddenly, the troops were distracted by the sound of an engine.

Several of the soldiers looked around for the source of the sound. It was a van.

And it was driving straight for them.

"Troops! Open fire on the driver!" the officer in charge yelled. The snipers obliged and scoped in on the car.

None of them shot.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" the officer asked.

"Uh... there is no driver, sir," one of the snipers said.

"Huh?"

"He might be ducking below the dashboard."

"Er... right. All snipers, fire on the car dash!"

They fired. Lasers burned clear through the front of the car and tore through the driver's seat and the area around it. After a few seconds, they stopped.

But the car didn't.

"The hell? It ain't stopping!" one of them said.

"This is gonna be loud!" another said as every one cleared away from the bunker in the dead center of the area.

The van kept coming until it eventually crashed into the fox hole, stopping dead in it's tracks.

The wheels kept turning, indicating that the driver must have fallen dead on the acceleration pedal.

A few braver soldiers walked forward and looked through the window. The seat belt was stuck through the wheel, keeping it straight, and a large rock was dropped on the acceleration.

And suddenly, the van exploded in a ball of fire.

From the upper ridge of the Maw, Max smiled as Stormtroopers were sent flying. He put the explosive detonation remote in his pocket and thanked the stars that the van had a full tank of gas. And, of course, that there just happened to be explosives in the back of the van. Looking away from the few surviving troops who were franticly trying to figure out what was going on, he walked along the edge of the ridge towards the Castle.

He soon reached a part of it where he could see a small courtyard through the shield. Several knights were posted there, as though they expected Stormtroopers to take the thirty story leap through the shield and down towards them.

Max picked up a rock and tossed it towards the shield. That told him all he needed to know.

The rock flew through. _"That must by why all those snipers were positioned the way they were,"_ he thought.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper. He quickly scrawled a message and then wrapped it around a rock before hurling it down through the shield and towards the courtyard. It landed amongst the knights, startling them. One stepped forward to retrieve it and, upon reading the note, looked up out of the shield and towards Max. He recognized Goofy's son and quickly gave some orders to other knights, who ran out of the courtyard and into the castle. They returned a few minutes later with the King, the Queen, Lady Daisy and a very large mattress.

Max sighed. "Eh, I've done crazier than this before," he muttered before backing up, running to the edge of the Maw and leaping through the shield and towards the courtyard below.

**At the same time, in the Resistance's Hideout...**

Pilots in ships, the gummis were carted to a large room that had formerly opened up to form an observatory. Now it was a launch site.

The gummi carriers slowly tilted skyward to allow the ships an easy takeoff.

_"All gummis, you are clear to take off in T-Minus five minutes,"_ the radio said.

"T-Minus?" Goofy asked as the transmission cut.

"It means five minutes when he said T," Sora said bluntly, not even sure if he was correct.

_"All wings report in, over."_

"This is Sora in H.C. 8 Two, ready to go," Sora said.

_"Crew of H.C. 8 One is hyped and ready to kick ass,"_ the pilot of the other H.C. said.

_"Pilot Demitri in M.C.C. 2 One is go,"_ said one of the single pilots.

_"Pilot Sully in M.C.C. 2 Two is about to wet himself in anticipation."_

_"Pilot Luke in M.C.C. 2 Three has been looking forward to this since before he was born."_

"Wha- Luke?" Sora asked.

_"Cut the chatter H.C. Two,"_ command ordered.

Sora and Goofy looked out the window of their ship at one of the smaller cruisers to see the same Luke Sora and Kairi had brought back from that desert planet. Luke gave them a short wave before returning to running checks on his ship, his face all business.

"I hope he's as good as he said he was..." Sora muttered.

_"Wings, prepare for launch!"_

Sora and Goofy planted themselves into their seats and buckled up.

_"T-Minus fifty seconds."_

The top of the 'observatory' slowly started to grind open as the other gummi's engines started. Sora quickly started his own.

_"Twenty seconds."_

The dome opened fully.

_"Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... Five... Four... Three... Two... You're Clear!"_

All five ships gunned their engines and blasted off out of the building and into the sky. Quickly the layers of clouds around the plant's outer shell began to obscure their view.

_"There's too many clouds, I can't see a thing,"_ Luke said.

_"Just keep heading up and don't hit us. It'll clear up in a second,"_ the pilot on H.C. One replied.

The clouds disappeared behind them as they broke into the black emptiness of space.

"Where are they anyway?" Sora asked, looking around the bleak area in front of him. "There isn't any fight here."

_"We're scanning now." _the pilot on H.C. One said. _"Hold on... alright, they're in this direction. Stick with us."_

The ship turned and started off, the rest of the gummi's following.

It wasn't long before they could make out the shapes of battleships in the distance blasting laser cannon shots at each other. When they got closer they were able to distinguish between each side.

Simply put, the Rebel Alliance was winning.

Star Destroyers were on fire, one was literally split in two and drifting idly in space. TIE Fighters were being blown to bits by the second. And while the main Rebellion ships were smaller than the Star Destroyers, none of them seemed to have taken substantial damage.

_"Okay, you all know that Star Destroyers and TIE Fighters are the bad guys, so anything else, don't shoot at them. I'll see if we can contact the Rebel flagship and tell them we're coming."_

"Goofy, go ahead and deploy the Mini-Gummis," Sora said. Goofy nodded and tapped a few buttons as Sora turned back to his radio. "H.C. Two is deploying Mini-Gummis. Do not fire, I repeat, do not fire."

_"Copy H.C. Two, holding fire,"_ Demitri said as the two small ships popped out of their holders on Sora's craft.

_"Understood, H.C. Two. Hey H.C. One, how's that communication coming?"_ Sully asked.

_"We've got them,"_ the H.C. pilot came back. _"Now stop with the chatter, I'm trying to figure out what's going on."_

The ships continued to cruise towards the battle at a relatively low speed, waiting for orders from the Rebel Fleet.

_"Okay, we've made contact, I'm patching them through to you guys,"_ H.C. One said.

They waited for a few seconds before the message started._ "Thank God you're here! We've been doing okay but we're running low on fighter power! We've lost almost half our fighters! If they notice our losses they'll rally and we'll get obliverated! We sure could use some help over here!"_

"We're at you're service. Just tell us what you need," Sora said.

_"A few of our boys are gonna make a run on a Star Destroyer's bridge. Star Destroyer closest to your position, confirm you see it."_

_"The one that's got a flaming bow?"_ H.C. One asked.

_"Yeah, that's the one. A few of you cover them when they try and loop back and attack another ship after their run. The rest of you need to help cover our flagship. It's the large gray one with the bumps on it. Confirm you see it."_

_ "Yeah, we have visual,"_ H.C. One replied.

"Hey, Luke and me 'll cover those fighter making the run," Sora said. "You three head over and cover that ship."

_"I'm game,"_ Luke said.

_"Right you two, watch yourselves,"_ H.C. One said as it and the other two ships increased speed and dove head first into the fire fight, cutting a way clean to the flagship.

"Luke, stick on my tail and try to keep up!" Sora said, gunning his engine and flying towards the Star Destroyer.

_"I'm right behind you, man!"_ Luke said as he brought his ship to full speed as well and took off after Sora.

The Star Destoryer's cannons noticed them and started firing. Sora and Luke both expertly dodged and looped around the giant walls of laser fire that flew through the sky towards them.

_"Sora! TIE Fighters coming in fast from your left!"_ Luke said. _"I'll get them off you!"_

"Negative, stick to direct course!" Sora cut him off. "Goofy, take care of those TIE Fighters!"

"On it, Sora!" Goofy replied, directing the mini-gummies at the fighters.

_"Sora, you see those two ball shapes on the top of the bridge, over?"_

Sora looked at the protruding bridge and then at the two large ball shapes on the top.

"Yeah, I see them Luke. What about it?"

_"They're both shield generators. When you get in range, try and take those out. That'll let the fighters land some better hits."_

"Speaking of fighters, where are they anyway?"

_"Uh... I think I see them," _Luke said. _"They're starting... yes, they're flying low over the bow of the ship, and starting for the bridge."_

"Sora, the Mini-Gummi's aren't gonna stop those TIE Fighters!" Goofy suddenly said. "A bunch more just flew in and I can't get them all!"

_"Sora, I'll get them, okay? You go as fast as you can and blow those shield generators before the fighters have finished their run! I'll catch up!"_

"You better, Luke!" Sora said as he continued to fly straight for the Star Destroyer.

"Goofy, change of plans! I want you to watch for any ships that come near us until I say so, but don't focus on that group you were targeting a sec' ago! Luke's going after them!"

"Got it!" Goofy said as he started swinging the Mini-Gummies around the ship in a circular formation.

Luke veered off his course and few directly between the TIE Fighters and Sora's rear. He spun his small fighter around and, flying in reverse, spun in space, spraying laser fire everywhere.

Sora began readying homing missiles for launch against the shield generator. The computer started locking on multiple missiles at once, but they weren't in firing range yet.

"Sora, there are TIE Fighters coming in from our right!" Goofy said.

"Luke, you finished cleaning up those other guys yet?" Sora asked.

_"Yeah, I'm bringing up your six!"_

"Well we've got more fighters on our right and I haven't got the time to change course."

_"Roger, I'll coming in!"_

"Goofy, do what you can with the Mini-Gummies," Sora ordered.

"Already on it!" the knight replied.

Sora glanced at a computer screen. 'Target in Missile range.'

Sora quickly tapped a button that released four missiles into space that flew directly into the shield generator, decimating it.

Sora didn't take time to celebrate the shot and locked onto the other generator and fired. Not even bothering to watch the weapons fire, he glanced at the fighters they were to escort. They were in firing range of the bridge just as the second generator blew up.

"Sora, Luke got the last of those fighters!" Goofy reported just as the five Y-shaped fighters shot at the bridge and destroyed it, successfully incapacitating the ship.

_ "You two gummis! You our ride out of here?" _one of the fighters asked.

_"Yeah, we'll cover you,"_ Luke answered. _"What's your next target?"_

_"Star Destroyer off to your left,"_ the fighter answered. _"You see it, the one that looks like it hasn't taken a hit. Nearest to the world's surface."_

"Yeah, we see it," Sora replied. "We're ready to- What the?!?"

**Several minutes ago, in the Citadel...**

Jacob and Terra stepped out of the elevator and into a large, open room with a window overlooking the city. A lone man was standing before it, gazing down through the holes in the clouds. He turned when he heard the elevator open.

"Wha- Who are you?"

Jacob charged him and, before he had time to say anything else, Kairi's bodyguard had grabbed the Imperial's head and twisted it violently, successfully breaking his neck.

Terra winced as Jacob dropped the man to the floor, her mind fruitlessly trying to figure out what was going on.

"Quick, let's go," Jacob said, not even bothering to conceal the body and running off along the window towards an adjourning hallway. Terra quickly and nervously followed.

The hallway was windowless and narrow, the lone source of light being the sunlight from the last room. They quickly came to a door sealed with huge iron beams, a keypad to it's left.

"Good, they haven't gotten in here yet," Jacob muttered as he keypad and quickly punched in a six digit code. The beams slid out of the way and the door dropped into the floor, revealing another door with similar bars. The process repeated it's self, each three doors having a different kind of lock, until after about twenty seven the rest of the hallway was revealed, lit by purple neon lights running below the transparent floor.

"Quick," Jacob said, grabbing Terra's hand and pulling her along. Just as they reached the other half of the hall, the doors closed again, sealing them in.

"How do we get out?" Terra asked worriedly.

"There's an exit up ahead," Jacob replied. "But there's also a very large cannon which I need to use."

"Cannon?" Terra asked. "What are you shooting at?"

Jacob didn't answer. They had reached another door, this one a normal, unlocked door with a handle. Jacob quickly opened it and ushered Terra inside. They entered a small, circular room that was filled only with a computer console, a swivel chair sitting in front of it.

Jacob quickly sat down in the chair and began feverishly typing on the computer, Terra watching anxiously.

**Out in the streets...**

The three remaining vehicles drove through the streets, Leon sitting in the passenger seat of the van. Everyone else was in the back, sitting on the floor. It was crammed with all the children, but every one was still able to fit. Only exception was that Zidane and Stitch were riding on the roof.

They hadn't run into any Imperials yet, and Leon was still trying to figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

He idly looked away from the road and towards the Citadel.

"Wait..."

The Heartless emblem was splitting in two. The halves were sliding apart slowly, and the huge barrel of a huge gun slowly emerged...

**Back in space...**

A huge bolt of light flew from Radient Garden's surface and impacted the hull of the target Star Destroyer. Suddenly what looked like huge bolts of electricity started jumping about the ship, and cannons stopped firing.

_"All Rebellion forces!"_ It was the Rebellion leader. _"Scanners indicate that the Star Destroyer closest to the world's surface has lost it's shields! All forces focus assault upon that ship!"_

"Huh. Guess you don't need us," Sora said.

_"What was that?"_ Luke asked.

_"Dunno, but it's given us an opening!"_ the fighter said. _"Come on!"_

The ships started flying for the Star Destroyer along with almost every other craft in the Rebel fleet just as troop carrying ships deployed from the flagship and flew right past the disabled Star Destroyer...

**In the Citadel...**

"That's all we've got to do," Jacob said happily. He typed a few more commands in which drew the cannon back into the castle.

"What's going on?" Terra asked again as Jacob stood.

"Alright, here's the thing. This world has been invaded by the forces of a tyrannical government and taken over. Myself and some comrades were able to escape in search of help. We made contact with a group called the Rebel Alliance and they're attacking from space right now. I just gave them some support by incapacitating one of the enemy's ships."

"Were all the men from earlier part of this... tyrannical government?" Terra asked.

"Yup. You see, they... Well, let's walk and talk." Jacob quickly tapped two keys simultaneously and a part of the wall slid away, revealing yet another hall. "Come on."

The two walked into another neon lit hall and Jacob continued talking. "You were under their control for all I can figure."

"Under... their control?"

"Yeah, we're inside a castle right now, but it's been taken over by the bad guys. I found you in here wearing a mind control chip."

"What was I doing here?"

"Actually, you were just standing still in place-"

"No, I mean, what am I doing in the... bad guys' base?"

"I don't know. Doesn't matter, does it?"

"... Guess not..."

The hallway ended with a trap door. Jacob knelt down and opened it slowly, revealing the room filled with computers they had passed through minutes ago.

It was filled with Stormtroopers.

"Come on, whoever killed the commander has to be around here somewhere!" an officer said. "Keep searching!"

Jacob carefully closed the door again. "Well, we're screwed," Jacob muttered, almost casually. He reached into his pockets and started rummaging for something. "I think I've got... yes, here it is!" He drew a small, cylinder shaped object.

"What's that?" Terra asked.

"Stun grenade," Jacob replied. "It releases a flash of light and a quick, high-pitched sound. The combination temporarily blinds and deafens whoever is in range. Don't know if it'll affect the Stormtroopers, but-"

"Stormtroopers?" Terra asked.

"White armor," Jacob replied. He quickly armed the grenade and opened the hatch, dropping the device to the ground. He slammed the door shut and muffled the sound of the grenade going off and the surprised screams of the officers.

"Quick, let's go!" Jacob yelled, throwing the hatch open and jumping through. Terra was right behind him as they hit the ground and charged for the exit.

"Hey, there they are!" one of the Stormtroopers yelled.

_"Damn, they can see!"_ Jacob thought.

"Check your fire, he's got the Esper!!" another cried. "Quick! Stop them!!"

Jacob looked at Terra in awe. "Esper?!?"

The sound of laser fire suddenly became absolute, Jacob and Terra barely ducking behind a row of desks in time to avoid being hit. Jacob pushed the desk over, the computer on top toppling to the ground. He grabbed the legs of the desk and slowly started scooting backwards, using the object as cover while he and Terra slowly worked their way toward the door.

"Terra, do me a favor, would you?" Jacob asked over the din of shooting. "Stand up, point your hands at those guys, and shout 'Blizzaga!'."

"... What?" Terra asked.

"Just do it!" Jacob said. "Do it quick and you won't get shot!"

Terra looked at him for a few seconds, wondering why he wanted her to die, but he hadn't done anything to her so far...

Terra stood straight up and, thrusting her hands forward, cried "BLIZZAGA!!!"

A huge wall of ice suddenly appeared in front of Terra, and the wall flew across the room and slammed into all the soldiers, eventually smashing them into the far wall, killing them.

Terra stared in horror at the wall of ice that hid the inevitably crushed bodies of the officers and Stormtroopers. Jacob stood from behind the desk and looked at her.

"Don't worry," Jacob said. "You'll get used to doing it. In fact, if you were under the Empire's control, you probably already have." He looked at the ice too, and noticed that patches of it were showing red. "Come on, there'll be more if we don't move."

Terra nodded slowly as Jacob took her hand gently and lead her out of the room, past the place where he had first found her, down the elevator, through the brass door, down every other step of the stair case, and into the Queen and King's room.

"Hold on," Jacob said, quickly grabbing the sheet music. He folded it up and shoved it into a pocket before motioning for Terra to follow him out onto the balcony.

"Uh... how are we going to get down?" Terra asked timidly.

"... Well... I climbed up..." Jacob said. "But that'll take too long... plus I doubt you'd make it..." He glanced over the side of the balcony carefully. "Going through the castle would be a bad idea... hmmm."

Terra waited patiently for a few moments before a group of figures wearing jet packs began to lower through the sky towards them.

Jacob glanced up just as the troopers saw them. "Okay, I know how we're getting down."

Jacob grabbed Terra by the waist and leapt over the edge just as the entire balcony was scared by blaster burns.

**In the streets...**

The van and jeeps ground to a sudden halt. Irvine and the other two M.I.A. soldiers were flagging them down from the side of the road.

Leon was quick to throw his door open and hop out to meet them. "What happened?" Leon asked. "Are you guys alright?"

"Blaze here took a shot to the leg, but he's alright," Irvine said. "You got room in that van?"

"Hardly," Leon replied. "You'd have to let some kids sit in your lap or something."

"Can I sit in Rinoa's lap?" Irvine asked. Leon kicked his shin.

"Hey, uh, guys? I don't think we need to rush getting back to base," Slammer said, looking to the sky.

Everyone looked upwards to see about fifty Rebel dropships quickly approaching the surface.

"Took them long enough," Blaze muttered.

Suddenly the back door of the van swung open. "Hey, you guys coming?" Cid asked angrily, sticking his head out. "I don't wanna get in any more Imperial trouble."

"That won't be a problem then," Leon said. "Check it out."

Cid looked to the sky like every one else. "Holy... Hey Rinoa! Get out here!"

Cid jumped out of the van, quickly followed by the black haired woman and a few of the kids.

"How many troops to a dropship do ya think?" Cid asked as Zidane and Stitch jumped down from the top of the van.

"I'd wager a good twenty," Zidane said.

"This mean we don't get ta kick more butt?" Stitch asked woefully.

Suddenly a massive cheer went up from somewhere, but it wasn't in the city. It was too far off.

"What the he-?" Cid caught a glare from Rinoa. "- Uh... heck?"

Zidane and Stitch jumped onto a nearby rooftop and looked out towards the Great Maw.

"Guys! The knights must have overrun the Imperials around them, because they're coming!"

"What?!?" Leon shouted. "They were completely out-numbered! There's no way they could have gotten out!"

"Tell them that!" Zidane shouted back. "Because they're already coming towards the Bailey!"

Suddenly yet another sound was heard. Sounded a bit like a 'Woooooohhhhhhhhoooooooooooo!!!'. Like a kid on a roller coaster.

It was coming from the Citadel.

Leon and Cid looked in that direction. "Cid, go grab some binoculars from the van," Leon said. Cid quickly did just that and handed them to Leon just as the sound was heard again, this time accompanied by a female scream. "I think... Wait... No way......"

"What? Let me see!" Cid said, snatching the binoculars from Leon and looking towards the Citadel. "What? I don't see anything.... Oh..... Wow...."

"What?" Irvine asked.

"Jacob and some blond chick are falling from the sky while the kickboxing with Stormtroopers on jet packs."

"Bull."

"Don't make that mistake, Irvine. Apparently we're not allowed to cuss around anyone under the age of fifteen."

Leon looked back to the sky and saw that the ships had disappeared. And after a few seconds, he realized why.

"Leon! The ships landed!" Zidane yelled. "They're deploying troops and tanks and everything! There are even... there are some trucks filled with building supplies! I think they're gonna help fix the town up!" He looked down at Leon. "Come on? You still gotta be emo? Smile!"

Rinoa ran over and grabbed Leon's hand. "Leon, this is huge!"

Leon looked into her eyes for a few moments before smiling. "... Call me Squall."

**Longest chapter ever. And after all that revising crap I was doing, I hope you're happy.**

** I own Blaze and Slammer. Kick ass characters as you will see. Star Wars buffs know where they came from.**

** All the Imperial officers are generic. I own the pilots Sora and Luke were flying with, but I don't think they'll show up again more than once or twice.**

** Oh, and if you don't know what a 50 cal. gun is, it's a weapon with enough firepower to blow out your chest with a single round. Plenty efficient against Stormtroopers.**


	28. Confusion Amongst Revelation

** Happy New Year!! I decided we should break in 2010 with a chapter of my story. I know that'll be the highlight of your year (that's a joke, smart ones). Oh, speaking of jokes, has anyone made any New Year resolutions yet? BURN!!!**

**Okay, I'm feeling a bit more sane now, so let's finish up with Radiant Garden's story and move on. This... and one or two more should do it. Then we've got one last world to traverse. Oh, and one of the Riku-Yuffie-P.J. chapters will be updated in a day or two. Look for it.**

**Chapter 28: Confusion Amongst Revelation **

** In the streets...**

The van pulled up outside the cleverly concealed garage and, after making sure that no one was watching, the wall folded upwards and the van drove through. It wasn't followed by the jeeps, however.

**In another part of the city...**

Two jeeps drove quickly through the city, Squall having traded places with one of the gunners. They had just caught the attention of one of the advance Rebel infantry units and were stopping to meet them.

"You guys with the Resistance?" the leader of the troops asked.

"I'm second in command," Squall said, jumping down from the jeep. "Squall Leonhart."

"What's the status?" the man said.

"Most of our soldiers have been captured or killed, and the Imperials are backing up towards the Citadel," Squall replied, gesturing towards the giant castle. "Your tanks won't do much good, so I hope you've got some close quarters teams on you."

"Let me guess: You don't want any substantial damage to the castle, do you?"

"That'd be nice."

"I'll get the message through to my commanding officer, and we'll get right on it."

**At the Bailey...**

The army of knights charged forward, lead boldly by King Mickey and Max. They flooded into the town and off in the direction of the Citadel, overrunning anyone (bad) in their path.

Mickey and Max reached the base of the Citadel first, quickly bringing the three Stormtroopers that stood in their way down.

Just as the rest of the group caught up to them, a strange shadow fell over the two.

Everyone looked up.

Then backed away slowly as a large yellow raft landed softly on the ground, it's occupants Jacob, who was standing triumphantly and saluting Mickey, and Terra, who was on her knees and clutching Jacob's leg, hyperventilating.

"Long time, no see, your Highness!" Jacob said happily, shaking Terra's arms off and hopping out of the raft before bowing low enough to see eye to eye with the mouse. "Glad to see you got out of your luxurious prison without much trouble."

"Max was the one who got us out," Mickey said proudly, pointing to the dog.

"All I did was crash a van into the Stormtrooper's lines and set off some explosives," Max said casually, shrugging.

"Couldn't have done it better myself," Jacob smiled.

"I'd ask where to got the raft," The mouse said. "But I'm not sure I want to know."

"Inflatable," Jacob answered. "I keep one in my pockets at all times. Opened this thing up about halfway down the castle."

Mickey looked around Jacob at the blond girl who was just now stepping out of the raft. "Who's your friend?"

"I don't know," Jacob answered. "And she doesn't know either, so don't ask."

Mickey and Max both arched eyebrows at him.

"Amnesia," Jacob quickly clarified. He grabbed Terra's arm and thrust her forward, grinning the whole time. "She says her name's Terra."

Terra only had to look at Mickey for about three seconds before girl instincts kicked in. "That is _so_ cute!" She quickly picked him up and snuggled him.

Jacob held down his laughter and turned to the knights. "So, what were you guys up to?"

"We were going to clear the bottom floors of the castle and secure Ansem's labs," the leader quickly replied.

"I know the way," Jacob said. "Come on." He glanced at Terra and Mickey. "Terra, let's go."

The girl turned around and, quickly remembering that Jacob had referred to the mouse as a King, placed Mickey back on the ground. "Uh... Sorry, sir."

"No problem!" Mickey said happily. "People do that to me all the time!"

**Back in the streets...**

Stormtroopers ran for cover in and behind buildings as the Rebellion's tanks moved up. Infantry units moved through tight alleys to clear out the enemy while members of the Resistance that had been in hiding all over town started peaking their heads out to see what was going on. Others that had been captured were slowly being released.

After about twenty minutes of clearing out the town, troops encountered Disney Knights in the basements of the Citadel, and together they moved up through the enemy stronghold. After two final hours, the massive structure was cleared of all Imperial presence.

Jacob and Terra didn't go back up.

**At the Resistance's no longer secret hideout... **

Kairi had been looked over several times after she fully awakened to confirm she didn't have a concussion, but she wasn't very interested in her own health and wanted to find out what her friends were up to and how the battle was going.

After the doctors finally released her, and as she hurriedly scuttled out the automatic exit door she almost bumped right into someone...

"Oh... Jacob," Kairi said, stopping inches from him. She took a quick step back and looked up at him. "What's up?"

"Not much," Jacob said casually. "I made a new friend, jumped off a building, watched as the Rebels liberated Radiant Ga-"

"Wait, wait," Kairi cut him off suddenly. "We're finished with all of this?"

"Not quite," Jacob replied. "The Empire is bound to launch a counter-strike."

Kairi bit her lip briefly before she noticed the shy looking blond teen standing behind Jacob. "Uh... who's-"

"Don't ask," Jacob quickly stated.

"No, it's okay," Terra said, stepping forward. "... Well, we're not quite sure who I am. I... I have amnesia."

"She only remembers her name," Jacob added. "She's Terra."

"Oh... well, it's very nice to meet you, Terra," Kairi said, giving a little smile. Terra smiled as well, but a weak, timid, almost scared smile.

"Jacob, where are Sora and the others at?" Kairi asked.

"Well..." Jacob said. "Most everyone is in the cafeteria celebrating, but Sora and Goofy just landed. They took gummi ships out into space. Sora should be rushing in to check on you in...." Jacob glanced at a clock on the wall. "Five... four... three..."

"Stop it, Jacob," Kairi giggled. "He's not that predictable."

"Two... one..."

The doors opened and a triumphant looking Sora stepped in, but the look of accomplishment on his face disappeared when he saw the trio before him.

"... Jacob."

"Sora. How have you been?"

"We almost got blown up in Space Paranoids," Sora said angrily.

"Hmm. And that was how long after I left you...?"

"Fifteen minutes."

"Oh. I was scaling the side of the Citadel and avoiding Stormtroopers on jet packs then. Sorry."

Sora only rolled his eyes and looked to Kairi. "Are you doing okay?"

"I'm fine, Sora," Kairi said. "These doctors you dumped me off with are crazy. The looked me over for ages! And just to see if I had a concussion!"

"Well, glad that you two are back together after a short, obviously painful two and a half hours," Jacob said sarcastically. "If you'll excuse me, I've got to go get some doctors on my friend here." He motioned for Terra to follow him, and walked off into the medical room.

Sora and Kairi watched him go before, quite unexpectedly, Kairi hugged Sora.

"Wha-?" Sora managed to get out before Kairi let go of him just as abruptly as she grabbed him. "What was that for?"

Kairi didn't say anything, almost as though she had to think about it. "... Irvine and I almost got killed. You showed up... well, I don't really remember it, but that just proves that you saved our hides. I... thank you."

Sora couldn't help but smile a little. "... I'll... I'll save you anytime, Kairi."

"Oh, not for long you won't," Kairi replied, a mischievous grin coming across her face. "No, you're gonna teach me everything about the Keyblade so I don't need you to save my butt."

They both laughed a bit, then stopped then looked each other in the eyes, and laughed a little more, not quite sure what was so funny.

The stopped laughing again, and Kairi stepped up to Sora. "You won't be saving me for long, Keyblade Master..."

For a half a second, Sora thought she was going to kiss him. Then, almost as if in slow motion, she backed up a few steps before walking around him and out of the room.

Then she walked back in.

"Where exactly is the cafeteria?"

Sora shook his head a bit and turned to face her. "Bit anti-climactic, don't you think?"

"Oh, shut up," Kairi giggled. "But seriously, where's the cafeteria? I'm starving."

"That's not exactly the place to be right now," Sora said. "Stopped by on my way here; it's filled with a bunch of irresponsibly drunken men partying like they're still in collage."

"You two still here?"

Sora turned to see Jacob looming behind him.

"Stalker," Kairi muttered.

"Yes, we're still here," Sora answered. "Where are you going?"

"To the cafeteria. Wanna know why?" Sora shook his head no, but Jacob continued anyway. "Because I'm old enough to be an irresponsibly drunken man and I'm young enough to party like I'm in collage. That's why."

Kairi couldn't help but smirk. Sora only frowned.

"If you don't wanna eat in a cafeteria that's filled with a bunch of men _living_, then don't go to collage when you're eighteen," Jacob said. "But if you wanna avoid that fate now, I believe that Rinoa is in need of some company. Leon is addressing the troops and she's all alone in her room. She's having lunch in privacy." He looked at Sora. "It might be a good time to talk with her. Learn a bit about each other's pasts."

Sora's eyes widened. "Wait... are you saying to-"

"I'm sure she'll welcome your presence," Jacob cut the boy off. "Oh, and do you think you could give her this for me?" He handed Sora a small, square, somewhat brownish envelope which he seemed to pull from nowhere. "And Sora, if the ladies want some privacy, make sure you give it to them."

Kairi was watching the scene unfold before her with arched eyebrows, but Sora only nodded at Jacob and headed for the door. "Come on, Kairi," Sora said. "Let's go have lunch with Rinoa."

"Uhhhhh.... Okay?"

The two walked out the door.

Then walked back in.

"Where exactly is Rinoa's room?"

**Several minutes later...**

Sora and Kairi walked up to the door that lead to Rinoa's room, and Sora quickly opened it and ushered Kairi in.

Rinoa was indeed sitting in her room. The room consisted only of a bunk bed, a dresser, a door that presumably lead to a bathroom, and a table at which she was eating.

She was eating... things that probably shouldn't have been in a military hideout.

Expensive stuff.

Er... fancy stuff.

Rinoa looked up from her food quickly and seemed shocked by who had just walked in. For a few moments she didn't say anything. Then, "Umm... hello. Would.... you like to come in?"

"Yes, actually, we would," Sora said. "We were... sort of hoping to avoid the craziness of the cafeteria and were wondering if we could have lunch with you. I mean, if it's not too much trouble."

"Er... okay. Yeah, sure, come on in."

Sora and Kairi stepped into the room and shut the door behind them.

"There's... uh... only two chairs," Kairi commented.

"Hmm... that should be all we need," Sora said. "Rinoa, do you think that I could talk with you for a second? Alone?"

Rinoa, seriously confused, stood up and nodded. She motioned for him to step into the bathroom, they quickly shut the door behind them.

"Alright, what?" Rinoa asked.

Sora paused, almost as if he didn't know where to begin. "Er... well... Rinoa, I know you're... wait." The boy noticed the shadow coming from the crack at the bottom of the door that indicated that Kairi was eavesdropping. He quickly flipped the switch to start the fan, began running the shower, and then continued. "Rinoa, I know you're Kairi's sister."

Rinoa's eyes widened, and she stepped back abruptly to the wall, almost as if she had been struck. "H... how... did you find out?"

"And you know Leon, don't you?" Sora asked. "You acted like you didn't know him, but Kairi... she told me that she had these dreams, and she saw the two of you together-"

"Oh... oh-no..." she muttered, suddenly looking dizzy and leaning against the wall, reaching for her forehead, which had suddenly broken out with cold sweat. "Kairi is... she _is_ having dreams... oh-no, he was right..."

"What? Who? Who was right?"

"Did Jacob tell you to come here?" Rinoa suddenly asked, getting off the wall with urgency. "Or did you just come?"

"That's not important," Sora said. "What is important is-"

"YES IT'S IMPORTANT!!!" Rinoa suddenly screamed, throwing herself in Sora's direction, her arms flailing above her head. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING TO HER?!?!"

Sora cringed. "... No, I don't. You know what? I came here to start a reunion. You don't seem to grateful."

"Look, did Jacob send you here or not?"

"... Jacob said that _you_ didn't want _him_ to tell anyone about you sneaking out of the castle."

"He told you about-?"

"And he said that you wanted it to stay secret. He said that you wanted her not to know. To protect the barrier of the worlds or whatever. That's a load of bull crap. On the Millennium Falcon you were just bursting to tell Kairi. But Jacob wouldn't let you. What's really going on?"

"... Did Jacob send you?"

"Yes."

Rinoa heaved a great sigh. "Kairi's memories of Radiant Garden have disappeared. But they aren't really gone. You said that she had dreams?" Sora nodded before she continued. "If she meets people that she is _told_ she knew from... before... she'll recover some of her memories. The more people she meets, the more memories she will regain. And... the more suspectable her mind will be."

"... What?"

"You really didn't get all that?"

"No, no, I understand most of it. Just... not the 'mind suspectable' part."

"...... There is a seal on her mind. That seal will slowly weaken as time goes on. If, that is, she continues to remember people. And then... her mind would be wide open to influence. She could lose her status as a Princess of Heart... she could be possessed..."

"Possessed?" Sora asked. "By Noir?"

"I don't really know," Rinoa said. "But... we need to protect her."

"Jacob sent me here to get you to tell her who you really are. I... well, maybe this'll mean something." He quickly handed her the envelope. "I'm gonna let you decide what to do. I don't like all that fancy food anyway..."

Sora turned the fan off, stopped the water, and opened the door. "I'm leaving," he said shortly to Kairi before walking out the door.

Kairi, who had been standing impatiently by the door for the past... five minutes was it now...? watched angrily as he walked out.

"Alright, what are you keeping me in the dark about?" Kairi asked, turning and facing into the bathroom just as Rinoa slipped a few sheets of paper back into the envelope.

Rinoa remained silent for a few moments, staring over Kairi's head and at the spot where Sora had just disappeared from seconds ago. Then she spoke.

"Kairi... I don't think there's a right way to tell you this..." Rinoa muttered, looking down.

"Uh... what?"

"Kairi, how much do you remember about Radiant Garden? You know, from... before?"

"... Not much," Kairi replied. "I've had.... sort of... flashbacks. Dreams. Some of them have been about me. Or... people who were... around me, I suppose..."

"And when have they happened?" Rinoa asked.

"Uh... I had some after Jacob told me who he was.... and... a bit after I met my... my... 'uncle'..."

"Well, tell me if you see anything now," Rinoa said. She approached Kairi and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders, leaning over so that they saw eye to eye. "Kairi... I'm your sister. Rinoa. We were both Princesses. I'm nine years older than you. You used to call me 'sissy'. I took care of you with Jacob. We lived inside the Citadel with our parents and our grandmother. You always wondered off and me and Jacob had to come find you. And you... you _loved me_."

Kairi's eyes widened. "Wait.... what?"

Suddenly Kairi recoiled as though she had been struck, and, jerking out of Rinoa's hands, collapsed to the floor...

**Elsewhere...**

The massive craft drifted about in the empty void of bleak dark slowly, sort of suggesting that some great plan had been put on hiatus. Perched atop the floating castle was a circular platform, a sweeping stair case leading from it and back into the craft. A lone figure stood in silence, pondering something.

She was joined. Maleficent turned as Noir approached from behind.

"Do we strike while they are resting?" Maleficent questioned.

"A great tactical blunder, that would be," Noir replied, gazing up into the starless space. "The Rebellion is not a force to be crushed with ease under the heel of your boot."

"Have you lost your wish for the prize?" Maleficent asked.

"The contrary. But I'm not so blinded by my lust that I cannot see a barrier set between myself and the goal."

"If there is something you wish to say, Noir, say it."

He gave a short-lived soft grin. "I think you're over-confedent in the ability of your Heartless army."

She turned away from him. "Rightfully so."

"You think that you can simply overrun them in an instant? If they manage to harness Kairi's energy, they could wipe out you and your army in the blink of an eye."

"But you yourself have stated that Jacob is reluctant to brave such a venture."

"He lacks emotions. He fools himself with false friendships."

Maleficent glanced at him and arched an eyebrow. "He is a Nobody?"

Noir laughed. "You misunderstand my meaning, Maleficent. His Heart has been shattered beyond repair. He tries to heal, but he will never recover to the extend that he can love again."

"You believe that he will give up?" Maleficent asked.

"In time. His Heart is too strong to fail to the Heartless. But eventually he may lose any bonds with this world."

"You think he may forsake his friends," Maleficent stated more than questioned.

"He is fighting an internal war he cannot win, not without help. But he is too proud to request it."

Maleficent chuckled. "You seem to know him well."

"We spent some time getting to know each other a few years back."

"What do you think it would take for him to win? Is there... anyone who could get through to him?"

Noir placed a hand on his chin, pondering. "... Hmm... a good question... Few remain from his family. Those who do are out of his reach. His 'traveling companion' from when he went up against me might have a chance of getting to him, but..."

"... Traveling companion?" Maleficent pressed.

"He fell quite in love during his little trip," Noir answered. "But you change the subject."

"And the subject was...?"

"I do believe you summoned me here to question me about my plans."

"Ah, quite," Maleficent said. "Just when do you plan on reclaiming Bliss of Heart?"

"In time, Maleficent," Noir answered. "Soon enough they will venture out again, I know it. Then we strike."

"We?"

"Would you rather stay behind?"

"... I'd prefer to conceal our partnership until further notice."

Noir smirked. "You fear Jacob?"

"More like... a healthy awareness."

Noir cracked up. "Call it what you like, Maleficent..."

Maleficent frowned. "Silence!"

Noir let out a few more laughs before spoke. "Maleficent, Jacob is a threat. Do not take him lightly."

"Do you forget the Keyblade Master?" she asked.

"I do not," Noir replied. "He is a danger as well. But I know _you_ think he is a weak young child, and I can't change your opinion of that."

"I'm not that foolish, Noir. You assume too much."

"I'm sure."

"..... Just tell me when you plan to attack them."

"Allow them to relax for a short time. They should have at least that. The Empire will counter-strike soon, and that should leave them tired again. I doubt they will stay on world much longer, Jacob will start to feel weary if nothing happens. That is, if I nor the Empire shows up. I've faith that they will repel the Empire, and the Empire most likely won't mess with Radiant Garden again. So once the group jumps world, we take them out at their destination."

"...... What is their destination?"

"I'm not psychic, lady."

"Could have fooled me."

"Here is all I can figure: Jacob and Kairi will both weaken over time. But we need Bliss of Heart back soon if we are to continue with your plan."

Maleficent tried to absorb what he was saying. "... So... you intend only to find Bliss of Heart's location in this little venture, not kill them?"

"Eh, I might finish Jacob off," Noir replied, shrugging. "But I figured you'd want the rest of them."

She smirked. "I'd like that very much."

"Perfect then," Noir said. "I'll retrieve the artifact, and then we can move the plan to Phase Two."

"Sounds splendid," Maleficent said. "Would you escort me back to my chambers?"

"I'm afraid I can't," Noir replied. "I've other things to attend to."

She nodded understandingly and passed him. She was on the stairs when she stopped and looked back. "You know, Noir, Sora has been seeming somewhat.... unimportant recently."

Noir lifted his hand into the air, and suddenly out of space, a giant black pillar of Darkness seemed to drive itself into the man at an impossible rate, hiding him from view. His voice could be heard for a moment.

"In due time Maleficent, believe me, he will be plenty important."

The pillar withdrew with identical haste, taking Noir with it.

** Hope you enjoyed a chapter with no action. Might be a bit slow for the New Year, but hey, I don't drink. Much.**

** So, we see Maleficent and Noir again for the first time since... which chapter was it? Twelve. That's a long time ago. Hope I confused you even more than normal. It's what I live for.**

** On another note, I realize there are most likely some fans of FF VI out there who are pissed off that I'm making Terra a pansy. Well, you will remember she pretty much WAS a pansy for a lot of the game. Fair warning to you: She's gonna stay kinda wimpy for most of my stories. That's right, storIES. Plural. She's a great character and all, and I think it would be fun to try and develop a character without a memory in my story. It allows me to use them however I want. Don't worry, I'll try and preserve her personality as best as I can. But she's never really going to get to the 'self-assured ass-kicking phase' that she was in at the end of her game. Sorry if that upsets you.**

** Oh, and of course, we've got Kairi and Rinoa. I think that little subplot is coming along nicely, don't you? But it's gonna become more than a subplot soon, you'll see. But do give me your feed back on how you think that their relationship should develop. You'll also get to see whatever memories she recovered next chapter, which should be out in a few weeks.**

** Anyway, until the next Episode 1 Chapter, this is Lord Fortune saying Happy New Year, review, and don't eat at McDonald's! EVER.**


	29. Looming Star OF DEATH!

**Second to last Radiant Garden chapter. Only reason it isn't last is because it wound up being a bit too long. I'll just have to merge some chapters together, I suppose. **

** Anyway, this one doesn't have much action (again! I know you hate me) but you're really going to be left on the edge of your seat. How? Read and you will see.**

** Chapter 29: Looming Star (OF DEATH!)**

** Somewhere...**

_Thunder cracked. Her feet pounded the heavily carpeted floor as she ran down the hall..... to two rooms away. She hopped up and down a few times before she reached the knob; she turned it quickly and bolted inside the room._

_ "Sissy!" she shouted. The silhouette of a sleeping figure behind the curtain of a four-poster bed suddenly sat bolt upright, throwing off their covers and pushing the shades to the side._

_ "Kairi?" Rinoa asked as she hopped off her bed in her thin silk nightgown. "What's wrong?"_

_ "I-I had a bad dweam- and-and when I woke up it was thundering and wightninging!"_

_ Rinoa sighed, but smiled. "Aw, Kairi. Come here."_

_ Kairi charged her as Rinoa got down on her knees so that she was Kairi's hight, and she gently received her sister into her arms. "Don't worry, Kairi. It's just lightning. It can't hurt you inside the castle." Kairi didn't reply. "Do you still want to sleep with me for the night?" Kairi nodded up and down as best she could; her face was pressed into Rinoa's chest._

_ Rinoa couldn't help but giggle a bit as she helped Kairi to climb up into her bed and watched the small girl fall almost instantly asleep again._

The scene shifted. And it shifted again. And again and again and again. No long memories. Some were only a few seconds long. Just... glimpses. Looks at the past.

And that was all it took.

** In Rinoa's room...**

Kairi's eyes snapped open. She sat bolt upright from her position on the floor, gasping for air.

Rinoa was down on her knees next to the girl, a deeply concerned look on her face. "Kairi!! Are you okay?!? Can you hear me?!?"

Kairi nodded slowly, her eyes still wide and her oxygen intake still too fast.

Rinoa calmed down a bit. "... Can you speak?"

Kairi took a few more breaths before she sharply replied, "Yes."

Rinoa placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Don't worry. You're back in the present."

Kairi began breathing at a normal pace again. She slowly moved her head to look her sister in the eyes.

Neither of them spoke. Neither had to.

What was happening could be seen in Kairi's eyes.

No more memories came back. No visions, no pictures, nothing like that. But... emotions.

Love. Adoration. Devotion. Respect.

Dependance.

And fear...

Fear of loss again.

Rinoa watched as the deep expression in Kairi's eyes slowly shifted. Worried, concerned, shocked eyes... then happy, joyful, finally opened eyes.

Opened to a small part of the truth.

A part Kairi was content with.

The teen suddenly and without warning threw her arms around her sister, squeezing tightly as though afraid to let go. Rinoa gently returned the embrace.

"What did you remember?"

Kairi gave a short laugh. "... I don't think the memories are all that important."

"But-"

"Yes, I remember you."

Rinoa withdrew slightly from her sister, keeping her hands firmly on the girl's shoulders. "You... you do?"

Kairi gave a bit of a shrug. "Well... not exactly. I remembered us being together... but I don't think that's what changed anything."

"Hmm?"

"... The _emotions_ came back."

Rinoa smiled sadly. "So, you don't remember me?"

"... A few things," Kairi answered. "But... even if I don't know why... I can't shake the feelings."

Rinoa pulled Kairi in again. "... It feels good," Kairi said.

"What does?"

"... When you hug me. Familiar.... Warm."

They held the embrace in silence for a few minutes before Rinoa said, "Do you want to bunk with me? We could talk, it might jog some memories."

Kairi let go again. "Could we do that?" she asked happily.

Rinoa paused again. "... I'll have to ask someone."

**Shortly, in the medical ward...**

Jacob waited as some doctors preformed a series of tests on a sedated Terra, scanning her brain for any prominent blemishes. This had been going on for about twenty minutes before the doors to the room opened and Rinoa walked in.

She looked happy and angry at the same time.

"Well, that's a new face," Jacob said as he stood. He took a few steps towards Rinoa, who met him halfway and slapped him hard across the face.

"Ah, so much for a simple hello," Jacob muttered as he placed a hand on his cheek.

"Okay, why?" Rinoa asked.

"... You got me. Why?"

She slapped him again.

"Do you do this to Squall very much?"

Slap.

"Why did you stop me from telling Kairi in the first place if you're just going to send Sora and Kairi to me later?"

"... Sora told me that Kairi was having more dreams. He had already worked out that you two were connected somehow. It was only a matter of time before he confronted you and got the truth. I told him that you were sisters and lied a bit about why you were keeping things hush-hush."

"You mean why _you_ were."

"Exactly."

"Well, your lies didn't do anything, because he worked out that you were lying."

"... He did?"

"Yes."

"..... Well, that is the best news I've heard all day."

"What?"

"What what?"

"Why is that the best news you've heard all day?"

Jacob arched an eyebrow. "I thought you said 'what?', not 'why?'."

Slap.

"I'm slowly teaching Sora to think critically."

Rinoa paused. "That's... pretty smart."

"And he's so stupid he doesn't even realize what I'm doing. He needs a lot more work."

"So why are you defying Ansem and letting Kairi regain her memories?"

"Ah, you're asking real questions. I think I'm teaching you too."

Slap.

"I defied him because he's dead. And now I'm taking up his work."

"What?"

"She's remembered more than her own memories. She's remembering memories of other people. And, she was in a trance for hours after she met your uncle."

"What?!? When did she meet him?!?"

"That's irrelevant. But she only met him once before, and that was when she was less than a month old. Yet she regained the most memories, be they her own or those of different people, when she met someone who she remembers the least."

"Wait.... so you want to use her as a test subject."

"... If you want to put it that way."

Slap. Kick. Punch. Shove. Kick kick kick. Step on. Jump up and down. Step off. Kick kick kick.

"So, have you finished vented your feelings?" Jacob asked from the ground.

"Yes, actually," Rinoa said. "Thanks for not fighting back."

"Don't mention it. Bottling up your feelings can shorten life by three years or more."

"Then you must have shot like, what, twenty one years of your life?"

"Ha ha. Funny. Now help the doomed man off the ground."

Rinoa took Jacob's extended hand and heaved him back to his feet with little effort.

"So, have I answered all of your questions?"

"No. I thought you cared about Kairi. Why are you risking her to Noir?"

"Noir? If he touches her I'll kick his ass again."

"Jacob... you know that you couldn't. Not after-"

"Look, I'm going to do what I'm going to do, and you can't stop me. Look on the bright side, there aren't many people left for her to meet, so it's not like she's going to regain all of-"

Suddenly Jacob's eyes widened. "Oh....... so that's why-"

"Oh, hell no," Rinoa muttered. "Friggin' complications. What is it? What now?"

"Er... nothing. How much did Kairi said she remembered when she found out about you?"

"... She didn't say. But... she said that the emotions came back. How she felt about me, that is."

".........."

"... Is that bad?"

".........."

"Uh, hello?"

"Rinoa, do you think that Kairi could bunk with you tonight? And you could maybe tell her about the old days?"

"Uh... that's what I came down here to ask you."

"Then why did we have to go through, like, ten other questions before we got to this?"

"Well-"

"Forget it. Just go. And if you see Sora, tell him I want a word."

Jacob turned his back to her and sat back down, resuming watching Terra. Rinoa started to walk away, but she turned back. "One last thing."

Jacob didn't turn around. "Yeah?"

"Where did you find the song? The sheet music?"

"...... You can sing it to her if you like."

"Jacob-"

"We're done here."

Rinoa continued to look at Jacob for a few moments before she turned and walked out.

Jacob gazed towards Terra, his eyes somewhat glazed over. He placed his face into his hands and closed his eyes, heaving a long, tired sigh. For a single second the thought that a tear was going to escape his eye. But he stopped himself. After all, he hadn't cried for four years. Why start again now?

_"......... I hate my life."_

**In the cafeteria...**

Luke placed his bottle down on the table as he downed the last swig of his drink. Alcoholic high hadn't quite set in yet. He hadn't had enough, and didn't plan on getting drunk any time soon.

"Hey Luke!" Goofy said, plopping down in a chair next to the farm boy. "That was some good flying back there!"

Luke couldn't help but notice that Goofy's breath stunk a bit. "Thanks, Goofy. You're not to bad with those mini ships for a first timer."

"Thank you!" replied Goofy, giving a slightly tipsy ahyuk.

"Goofy, I don't think you should be drinking stuff that strong," Luke said, glancing at the dog's cup.

"Aww, it's not all that 'hic' strong," the dog said. With that, he lifted the cup up and missed his mouth, sloshing his clothes with the liquid.

"... Yeah."

"Wwwwhoooo!"

Luke jerked out of the way as Irvine collapsed into another chair. "That's some good stuff right there!" Irvine said, pointing at his mug. "What? Yeah, I agree."

"I didn't say anything," Luke said.

"Well, of course you didn't!" Irvine exclaimed. "I knew that."

Leaving his bottle, Luke quickly stood up and walked out of the large room, ducking just in time to avoid a flying cup colliding with his head.

In the halls, Luke walked off in a completely random direction. He didn't have very high hopes for anymore action taking place on this world, and he was looking forward for an opportunity to speak with Leia again and see if he could enlist...

Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Leia since they had landed on this world.

"Wonder where she would be..." he muttered aloud.

"Where who would be?"

Luke turned. Sora was behind him.

"Where are you headed?" Luke asked.

"Was going to the drunk hall," Sora replied. "Then I saw you. So, who do you wander where they could be?"

"Princess Leia."

".... Huh. I don't think I've seen her since we landed."

"That's just why I was wondering," Luke said. "So, have you got any idea-"

"Whhhaaaa!!!!"

The two looked to the doors of the cafeteria just as a boy with a monkey tail and blond hair was chucked out. He hopped to his feet. "Oh yeah?!? Well, _I_ can't help it if I'm better looking that your boyfriend!"

A large blue furball was then hurled into his chest successfully knocked him to the ground. The blue creature jumped up and ran off a series of swear words before spitting a blob of acid back into the room.

The doors swung shut and the boy got back to his feet. "Yeah, just you hide behind your doors! You got nothing on this!!" he yelled, pointing to his own face.

The blue creature jumped onto the boy's shoulder and the two huffed off in a different direction than Sora and Luke.

"That was only a bit random," Luke said.

"I know both of them," Sora muttered, looking in the direction they had walked off in.

"You would, Sora."

The two turned around to come face to face with Max Goof.

"Hey, man!" Sora cried, giving Max a quick high five. "What's going on in your world?"

"Not much," Max grinned. "Just helped to liberate all of Disney Castle." He made a quick jerking motion over his head, which indicated the approach of Dr. Cid, Leon ( "Oh God, he's smiling," Sora muttered. "It's an omen."), King Mickey, Queen Minnie, Princess Leia, and C-3PO and R2-D2.

"Ah, Sora!" Mickey said happily. "Glad to see you're still in one piece!"

"For the time being, Your Majesty," Sora smirked. "How are you doing?"

"Eh, as good as I can be doing, thinking about the fact that half my people got killed in the Empire's initial assault."

"Oh yeah...... sorry."

"Nah, no point in lingering on it," the King said. "We're heading to command central. Wanna come along?"

"Sure. Can, er, my friend-?"

"Oh, I didn't notice ya!" Mickey said, approaching Luke. "Mickey Mouse of Disney Castle at your service!"

"Thank you... Your Majesty?" Luke said, a somewhat questioning look on his face.

"King," Sora murmured.

"King Mickey," Luke finished. "I'm... greatly humbled."

"Only as humble as one makes one's self," Mickey said. "Don't let other people walk over you. Especially someone as small as me!"

"Wise, wise words," Dr. Cid said. "So, what makes you humble?"

"... I'm a farmer."

"And today, you're in the presence of a King!" Mickey said. "Never slap a label on anything, including yourself."

"Come on guys, let's get moving," Leon said, stepping to the head of the group and leading the way through the base and towards command.

**Shortly...**

The group entered the command room, and Sora couldn't help but notice that things were very busy despite the fact that the battle was over. Dr. Cid quickly walked over to one of the other men who was in charge of the operation.

"Anything wrong?" Dr. Cid asked.

"Anything wrong?" the man asked, laughing. "Sir, just about every meaning of 'something wrong' is about to come door crashing."

"That's never good," Max said sarcastically as the rest of the group approached as well. "What's up?"

"Hmm. Where to begin? A big ass space station with the power to destroy an entire world is slowly but surely approaching our position. And it's Empire controlled."

**Hours before...**

A group of men in gray uniforms sat at a large, circular table in a somewhat bleak looking meeting room. All of them had something to say.

"The entire whole of the Rebellion is on Radiant Garden as we speak!" one of them cried. "We must retaliate with our full power and wipe them out while they are contained!"

"You speak foolishly," another replied. "By the time the Rebellion saw we were coming, they would have already scattered and fled the world."

"Then our only choice is to destroy them swiftly and fully," said another. "We must show them what the Death Star is capable of."

Uproar.

"Perfect!" "Absolutely!" "Do it now!" "We should set out as soon as we can!"

"No!" "Do you even understand how many high-profile targets there are on that world?!?"

"Enough."

The dark, heavy, artificial voice filled the air, silencing everyone present.

There was a pause as a man, completely incased in black armor, a billowing cape on his back, and a fearsome helmet on his head, stood. All eyes were on him as he said, "The Death Star will destroy Radiant Garden."

Again, there was uproar.

"Quite!" "Yes!" "Perfect plan!" "Ha! In your FACE, losers! I mean, uh..."

"WHAT?!?" "You're the one who designated the targets in the first place!!" "What is this?!"

"ENOUGH!!!!" the man yelled, again bringing silence. ".... I've already dispatched a small team which will capture our targets and remove them from the world before it is destroyed. However, since the second their presence is detected, their mission will fail and our planned attack will be compromised, both operations will have to occur simultaneously. The team is aware of the danger, and they have already set their watches to zero hour. We are going through with the operation. Your say has nothing to do with it. These orders come directly from the Emperor himself. You are dismissed."

**And in the present...**

Apparently the small little robot, R2-D2's 'mission' as he had called it back on the desert world, was actually to deliver secret blueprints for the approaching craft. The same one Jacob, Rinoa and Irvine were held on. The Death Star.

The only reason they had been alerted of the massive craft's approach was because of the data R2 had uploaded to the computer system, allowing them to see through the Death Star's scanner resistance. But more importantly, the blueprints also revealed the Death Star's only weak point.

It took but seconds for the entire world to go on red alert. Everyone scrambled to prepare for the incoming attack. Squads of pilots were briefed, civilian riots were contained, and Kairi, alerted by the base wide intercom, quickly left Rinoa's room and departed for the command center.

**At the same time...**

Sienex's ship flew stealthily through the Rebellion's bare-boned blockade, approaching the planet's surface. He glanced at his checklist of subjects to be abducted once again. And once again, he found himself questioning the choices.

_"Kairi.... Princess of Heart, understandable... but why this specific one, there are plenty of others with half the guard... Rinoa, former Sorceress.... but her power is gone now, why bother with her?..... Sora, Keybearer... Terra, Esper......."_

But what surprised him more than who was on the list was who wasn't on it.

_"Jacob.... Vader seemed so intent on obtaining Bliss of Heart before... probably figures the kid is a real threat....."_

They swooped low over the barren terrain several miles outside of Radiant Garden and landed behind a large cliff, well out of eyesight. Sienex stood from his co-pilot seat and quickly spoke to the main pilot. "I'll send you the location as soon as we're ready to extract. All the anti-aircraft guns will be shut down, so don't hesitate. We get stuck in there too long and we're dead."

"Yes, Commander," the pilot answered. Sienex smiled under his helmet. 'Commander Sienex'. Sounded pretty bad ass.

He departed into the holding area, where the rest of his squad was waiting. Seven other men, all in full armor and equipped with high-tech lethal and non-lethal weapons. They were all pulling jet-packs off their racks on the wall and strapping them on to the back of their armor. Sienex grabbed his orange-striped pack and strapped it on. "All ready?" he asked. Everyone nodded. "Let's move."

A loading ramp lowered, and the squad walked clear of the ship, activated their packs, and jetted off.

**At the base...**

Crews were rushing to their craft. Civilians were being rushed to escape shuttles. Irvine was in the bathroom, puking up his beer. Dr. Cid, Squall, Princess Leia, King Mickey, Sora, and pretty much all of the important people were gathering in the control room, awaiting first contact with the incoming doomsday weapon.

"Sure hopes this works..." Sora muttered.

"Don't we all," Squall replied.

Even Mickey looked grim. "Well, I suppose there's nothing to do but wait... there aren't enough gummi ships to go around..."

"We already told you to evacuate, your Highness," Dr. Cid said.

"That would only send the message that I've no confidence that we're going to win. The men up there will need all the morale boosts they can get. Besides, those evac ships will be targeted as well. The Empire has no idea who's on board, and they won't want anything or anyone leaving the surface."

"Cleaning house..." Squall sighed. "This is some bad shit......."

**Elsewhere in the base...**

Kairi hurried down the hallway and towards the Platform Chamber. Hopefully Sora wasn't going to be stupid enough to go and try to fight that thing... maybe she could even convince him to escape with her...

She turned a corner towards the Platform Chamber and... ran headlong into Commander Sienex.

Before she even had time to react, the armored man had thrust his left hand over her mouth to silence her, and two other soldiers suddenly joined him from behind her and restrained her movements. With Sienex's free hand, he jabbed a syringe into the girl's neck and ejected it's contents. In about two seconds, Kairi's struggling stopped, and her body went limp. One of the other troopers took the burden of Kairi's body as Sienex said two words over the squad radio.

"One down."

**And so the REAL battle begins.**

** A few things I want to say before I leave you. First of all, that Riku/Yuffie/P.J. chapter, chapter 18, was updated. However, a message doesn't go out, and no one reads my profile, so no one knew that. Just thought I'd inform you.**

** Another thing: A lot of you are probably getting spoilers for Birth By Sleep by now, and have noticed that a lot of what I've done now contradicts some of the most important aspects of KH. Rest assured, I'm going to write a completely 'fanfic' fic, but I'm still going to continue the ongoing saga of KH faithfully, including BBS. I've got ways around it. You'll see what I mean next book.**

** Lastly: this chapter was rushed, but I'm starting to set myself deadlines, because if I don't, nothing ever gets online. So, here you have it. I'll probably come back and improve it later on.**

** Whew, that was a mouthfull. Anyway, this is Lord Fortune, saying 'Don't import BBS if you don't understand the language!' and 'Until next time!'**


	30. Arrived Star still OF DEATH!

**READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

** Okay, now to kill the cliffhanger. Be forewarned, this chapter may take up a good hour or two of your life. No joke, it's long.**

** Also, this chapter was, in theory, going to run two plots with the fighters in space and on the ground. However, it took me a really long time just to write the ground sections, so I decided that 'Hey, everyone has seen S.W. Ep. IV before. Everyone knows what goes down.' If you don't know.... well, it really doesn't effect the story much anyway. In fact, it kinda increases the suspense. Anyway, I'll come back some other time and add the space sequences, but for now, just be happy with this.**

** Again... a lot to be happy with. LLLOOOONNNNGGGGG. Ready then? Three, two, one, GO!**

** Chapter 30: Arrived Star... still OF DEATH!**

** In the command room...**

The computer operators worked franticly at whatever it was that they were working on, making Sora feel somewhat useless. He knew that he wasn't nearly good enough a pilot to stand a chance against Death Star, but that didn't change anything. Just waiting in the command room was.... it was too suspenseful. He wished that they could all just evacuate, but he knew there was no way they could get all the civilians, Resistance members, and the Rebellion off world, no matter how much time they had. Their only hope now rested in the skills of Luke and the other pilots.

"_Maybe Jacob'll bust out some huge-ass doomsday device or something that can blow it up..._" he thought lamely. He glanced up from the huge table, which had a screen showing the operations going on in the base, and looked across from him at Princess Leia and Leon ( "_Oh yeah... Squall.... that's kinda weird..._" ), hoping for some sort of... anything to boost his confidence. But the both looked just as nervous as he was, which was certainly not helpful.

The door to the command room opened for the millionth time over the past ten minutes, only this time Rinoa walked in. Her expression was distressed, but not the kind of distressed you get from impending doom. It was different. Sora and Squall both looked up at her and quickly approached, out of earshot of anyone else.

"Hey, Rinoa," Sora said, forcing a smile. "What's up?"

"You haven't seen Kairi, have you?" she asked quickly. "I left her in my room and she's not there. I figured she might have come looking for you."

Sora's smile vanished. "... No, I haven't seen her. Did something happen?"

"I don't think so..." Rinoa replied.

"Look, we really don't have time for this," Squall said hastily. "Kairi can't get into any trouble on the surface except for the whole Death Star thing. Right now we don't have time to look for her."

"Sure we do," Sora said. "Well, I do. I'm not doing anything anyway."

Squall paused for a moment, but nodded. "Don't know what difference it'll make..."

Suddenly, Squall's radio crackled. He reached for it and twisted a few dials, trying to get the frequency of the incoming call. It only took a moment before the radio blared with the sound of laser fire and a voice saying _"Leon! The Empire's got ground forces in medical ward 1137!! They're extracting V.I.P.s and cleaning house!! Get the hell down here!!!!!"_

"Shit," Squall muttered. "Jacob, what's going on down there?"

_"Did you not hear any of that stuff?!?" _Jacob yelled, the sound of shattering glass mingling with the oncoming shots. _"Summary: Things are (R-Rated)ed up down here!!!!!"_

Sora snatched the radio away. "Jacob, how many of them are there?!?"

_"Like I know!! I'm blindfiring here!! If I take the time to pop up and count I'm dead!!" _Hisvoice was followed by a female scream and then silence.

Squall didn't even hesitate as he snatched his gunblade from his belt and charged out the door, quickly followed by Sora, who dropped the radio and summoned the _Kingdom Key_ into his hands. Rinoa could only watch them run out as Jacob's words turned over in her brain. _"Extracting V.I.P.s and cleaning house..."_

_ "Oh-no..... Kairi...."_

She charged out the door as well, not knowing what kind of help she would be, but knowing she wasn't going to stand on the sidelines.

**In said medical ward...**

The bodies of doctors were scattered like shards of glass on the ground. Shards of glass were scattered like... shards of glass. Three fully clad Stormtroopers relentlessly sprayed lasers from their weapons at the burs that were Jacob and Terra ducking from cover to cover. The girl had already dispatched three of the soldiers with her magic, but that had almost instantly tired her out and she once again had to rely on Jacob for her protection. Jacob, meanwhile, was spraying lasers from his pistol over whatever cover they were currently behind. Had he looked out, he was usually dead on with his shots, but the lasers just seemed to bounce off of the armor.

Jacob reloaded his gun quickly as Terra leaped out from behind the medical equipment they were currently camped behind and rolled over a rifle from one of the fallen soldiers, grabbing it as she went. She slid behind a fallen desk just as the stormtroopers redirected their fire at her and began to tear the desk apart. She pressed herself hard against the floor as splinters from her cover flew over her head. She pushed the gun out on the floor before her and pointed the barrel around the bottom of the desk and opened fire. The laser spray still didn't seem to slow the stormtroopers as the continued their barrage at both her and Jacob.

Jacob motioned for her to abandon her cover and come back and join him. She nodded and hopped up from her prone position, blasting the gun at the soldiers. Jacob joined in, firing his gun over his cover. Laser blasts missed her body by inches in the few seconds she was up before she dove back behind the medical equipment with Jacob.

"How many are there?" Jacob asked.

"Three. The shots just bounce off them. Your shots too."

"Hand me your gun," Jacob requested. She did as he said, and he handed her his weapon. She shot over the cover a few times as Jacob pulled the clip out of the rife.

"Stun blasts," Jacob muttered. "Chances are their guns are filled with these kinds of shots too."

"What?" Terra asked over the sudden sound of rebuttal from the enemy guns, at which she retracted her hand back behind cover.

"Their guns are filled with stun blasts. They'll tear through some materials, but if they were to hit you or me they'd just knock us out."

"So are they after you or me?" Terra asked, again firing a shot over their cover.

"Maybe both," Jacob answered.

"Why do they want you?" Terra inquired shortly, drawing her hand back in and changing her angle a bit, instead firing from around the side of the equipment.

"Other than my rugged good looks and unending wisdom? I'm currently in possession of an artifact of extreme power."

"Wanna share some other time?"

"That'd be nice. Damn, where's our back up..."

As if on cue, the sound of two weapons slashing through the air sounded, followed by two distinctive thuds. Jacob and Terra popped up and both aimed right at the remaining soldier's head, firing simultaneously and knocking the man down, though still not killing him.

"Keep him on the ground!" Jacob yelled to the newly arrived Sora and Squall. They both quickly went to stand over the trooper, putting their blades at his neck.

"You couldn't take out three guys?" Sora asked.

"They're reinforced," Jacob said. "My pistol doesn't have enough power behind it, and the rifle is only stun." Jacob knelt down and yanked the helmet off the trooper, revealing a burly looking man with a crew cut. Jacob lowered over him. "Who are your targets?"

"You're wasting you time," the man said. "If I talk, the Empire will kill me."

"We'll kill you very painfully if you don't tell us," Jacob retorted.

".... The Death Star will just-"

"We've already mobilized a plan against it. The Death Star's going down."

"You're bluffing."

Jacob sighed. "... Sora. Terra. Wait outside in the hall."

The two teens exchanged looks shortly before leaving, Sora with his Keyblade in hand and Terra with Jacob's pistol.

As soon as they were out, Jacob shortly said, "Leon. Ear." The young man stood as Squall instantly swished his blade through the air and cleanly removed the soldier's ear from his head. The man screamed as blood spurted from the side of his skull. Squall ignored him and looked at Jacob. "By the way, I'm going by Squall again."

"Sweet. Are you still emo?" Squall scowled at him. "Thought so." He looked down at the wailing man on the floor. "Ready?" The man bit his down on his lip, drawing blood almost instantly, and, groaning in pain, shook his head no. "Hmm." Jacob smiled. "Ve have veys of making you talk. Perhaps a few fingers vil loosen your to tongue?"

"That's not even funny," Squall muttered.

"Meh, whatever. You've got no respect for the classics. Take his right thumb."

"GOD!! No, no, I'll..... I'll talk........... damn......."

"That works for me," Jacob said. "Targets?"

".... Ugh...... the esper Terra........ Princesses Rinoa and Kairi.... and-gah...... Keybearer Sora....."

"Oh hell..." Jacob muttered. He and Squall both bolted for the door to the hall, but it was too late: Sora and Terra were already gone.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Squall muttered.

"Call security," Jacob said. "Tell them to find Kairi and make sure she and Rinoa are both contained. Get a medical crew for that trooper in there."

"Why save him?" Squall asked.

"Always nice to uphold a relationship. He may have more information. I'm going to go find Terra and Sora."

"Watch yourself," Squall said.

"Don't I always?" Jacob asked, hefting his next to useless weapon and charging off down the hallway.

Squall put his gunblade down and quickly reached for his radio, but remembered: Sora had left it in the command room.

"Damn that kid...."

**Elsewhere...**

Rinoa steadily jogged through the halls, quickly dodging around anyone she encountered, the only objective in her mind to find Kairi. She kept going through the base, not knowing where to look, just taking random turns and praying that she would run headlong into the girl soon.

But unfortunately, she ran into someone else.

Sienex cut her off as she turned a corner, sucker punching her in the gut. She crumpled but before she could even release a grunt of pain, the Commander had pulled a left hook and slammed her right into the wall. He grabbed her and forced her to the ground, the swiftness of each blow coming too quick for Rinoa to even shout 'Help'. Sienex pressed her to the ground and prepared the syringe as he had done with Kairi, but Rinoa managed to summon a bit of short notice strength and jerked upwards, throwing the man's armored body off. She jumped to her feet and, as Sienex started to rear back his fist to deliver a punch, released a fearsome 'Yah!!' and roundhouse kicked his helmet. Sienex was knocked back by the blow, and Rinoa took the momentary break in the conflict to bolt. She charged off down the hallway, trying to regain her breath enough to yell for help. She panted heavily for about five seconds before two more stormtroopers seemed to appear out of nowhere. Before she had a chance to react, they both fired tranquilizer darts directly into her chest. She staggered, momentarily resisting, before she ultimately collapsed onto the ground. Sienex joined them only a few seconds later, rolling his neck a few times, making loud popping sounds as he shifted things back into place.

"Problems, boss?" one of the soldiers asked with a chuckle.

"She had much more fight in her than her sister," the commander said. "I underestimated her."

"Doesn't matter," the other soldier said. He switched on his radio. "We've acquired last target. Everyone regroup on the surface for evac as soon as squad A is done with shutting down the anti-aircraft guns." Sienex raised a hand shortly. "Hold up, I'm turning things over to the commander.

Sienex gave a short thumbs up to the other soldier before he started speaking. "Fox, how are things going on the guns?"

There was a moment of wait before _"Pretty good, Commander. We'll have them down in as short as five minutes. There were only a few guards here, and we cleared them out. Now the challenge is to shut down the turrets without alerting anyone."_

"Take your time, Fox," Sienex replied. "Want this done right."

_"Yes sir."_

Sienex switched frequency quickly and connected with the pilots of their dropship. "Good news. We've almost got the turrets offline. Go ahead and crank it into gear."

_"Right, sir. Standing by for takeoff orders."_

"Good. Wait out there." Sienex switched off the radio and looked at his two partners. The one who had talked on the radio first had taken Rinoa's body, and the other had walked a bit down the corridor from which he had emerged and retrieved Kairi's limp body. "Ice," he said, addressing the man carrying Rinoa, "Scarecrow," now the man with Kairi. "Roll out."

"Yes sir," they replied, both in the exact same voice as Sienex.

**In the medical room...**

Squall finished wrapping the bandages around the man's head as quickly as he could, attempting to stop the bleeding. He helped the man to his feet and allowed the Stormtrooper to throw his arm over Squall's shoulders. They quickly stumbled out of the room and into the hall, quickly starting towards command. Squall hoped that he'd run into someone with a radio soon, but with his luck, that'd never happen.

"You doing okay?" Squall asked.

"This..... gha... doesn't mean I'm helping you........"

"Whatever."

They kept walking through down the halls as quick as Squall could get the man to move.

"Got a name?" Squall asked after a few minutes, breaking the quiet. They still hadn't run into anyone.

".... Not telling........."

And again silence returned.

**Elsewhere...**

Jacob charged down the halls as fast as he could. He came to an intersection and paused for a moment, taking a deep breath and sniffing the air. He let whatever it was that he was smelling settle before turning right down another hallway. He continued through the base, getting farther and farther away from the central complex. So far away, in fact, that there were cobwebs beginning to line the halls.

"Resistance probably hasn't even been in this far," he muttered. "Bet those Stormtroopers and me are the only ones who've been here in years..."

He changed his course again and walked into a very tight, but very tall room similar to the main elevator chamber. Only difference was that it was only fifteen feet wide.

He hoped onto one of the white elevator pads and sniffed the air again. "Up," he muttered to the pad. It obeyed and shot upwards through the chute. He quickly glanced over his next to useless stun rifle, and hoped that someone might take their helmet of long enough for him to plant a headshot on them.

Sniff.

The elevator stopped, seeming to know where Jacob wanted to go, just like the ones in the main chamber. A sort bridge extended like normal, and he quickly stepped off the elevator and ran down the narrow hall before him. The base was usually stark white, but this hall was very dark, the only light coming from the single dark purple neon rod that stretched down the length of the hall.

_"The hell is this?"_ he thought shortly, still running.

He came to a door on the far side. It opened on it's own to admit him. The room before him was filled with lab tables, beakers, tanks, and all kinds of equipment, all completely covered in cobwebs. Jacob glanced at the floor and saw that it was almost hidden from vision by the silky webs, almost like a mist.

But there was a clear cut path through the webs where others had already dragged their feet as they walked through. The path lead to one of the three doors exiting from the room. He followed.

He opened the door and saw yet another dark hall with a purple light, this one also filled with cobwebs, but with a path cut through it. He ran.

The door also opened on it's own to allow him in, leading him into yet another cobweb filled room, only this time it wasn't a lab, but a large circular room with many doors all around him. But again, a clear cut path lay before him, leading to one door.

He started to follow the path, but stopped. "Easy enough to play a trick," Jacob muttered. He sniffed the air again. No, it was a different door. He looped the room, taking a quick whiff at each door. He found the right one quickly and threw it open. Again a dark hallway filled with cobwebs, but with a path cut through it. "When the hell does this end?"

As he started down this hall, a thought struck him. "This is like a maze. A freaking maze. And these Imperials seem to know exactly where they're going..... They've got to have some sort of map. Or some blueprints. But where would they get one...?"

"From the citadel? No, they wouldn't have sent the map off world... and even if they had found one, then they would have come down here and found the Resistance...."

"Someone off world. But who would be in possession of that kind of information...?"

Jacob decided that he would solve this mystery later. He kept running down the hallway and came to yet another door.

"Really, how long does this go?"

The door opened... revealing ten heavily armed and armored Stormtroopers, two of which were supporting the knocked out forms of Sora and Terra.

"Shit!!" one of them suddenly yelled. "Blast him!"

Jacob dropped back into the hall as all of the soldiers suddenly opened fire. The door closed just in time to block the shots, but after two seconds of heavy barrage, the door had already been destroyed. Three of the soldiers ran through. "You get to the evac zone, we'll stop him!"

Jacob was already back in the many doored room. He glanced down at the trail that he had left, leading to half of the doors.

"Hmm..."

The Stormtroopers burst in.... to find that almost seven of the doors had trails leading too them.

"Smart..." one of them muttered.

"He's heading back to alert everyone," one of them said. "He'll go the way he came in the first place, which is the way that we came in," he said, pointing to the door that Jacob had come through first.

"No, fastest way to command is through that door," the other one said, pointing to another door.

"He may not know that!" the other said.

"Look," the last one interjected. "One of you take each way. I'll stay here incase he comes back."

The other two nodded and ran out the doors. The remaining trooper backed up against the door which led after his squad mates, raising his weapon into ready position.

However, he wasn't ready for Jacob to drop from the ceiling and kick his gun out of his hand, dive through the cobwebs after it, and then spin around and blast the soldier through his helmet and into his head.

** Elsewhere...**

Zidane was spending his time leading up to the attack aimlessly wondering the deep, empty halls of the very back reaches of the base, Stitch scuttling around a few feet ahead of him, sniffing the ground. He wasn't really feeling all that scared, or even apprehensive.

_"After all, if I die, then maybe I'll get to see her again..."_

"Ih! Ih! Ih!"

Zidane was drawn out of his thoughts by the sudden cry of his blue companion. Stitch was standing on his hind legs and pointing off down one of the branching halls, hopping up and down like a young child who needed to pee.

"What is it, buddy?" Zidane asked, glancing off down the hall the creature was indicating.

Stitch continued his cries of "Ih! Ih! Ih!".

Zidane raised an eyebrow. "... You... wanna go that way?"

Stitch only took a moment to nod before he was down on all fours and charging off down the hall at an unbelievable speed.

"Whoa, wait up!!" Zidane yelled, taking off after him, unknowingly running along the trail of a squad of Stormtroopers and their black haired follower.

** At the anti-aircraft control room...**

Two Stormtroopers grabbed a body off of one of the computers and tossed him into a corner, another trooper walking over and sitting down in his place.

"Hrm.... lets see........." he tapped a few keys and clicked on a few icons. "Controls are encrypted. This could take hours."

"We've got less than ten minutes, Fox," one of them said.

"I'm here, aren't I?"

He quickly ran his fingers over a few more keys and brought up a screen that rapidly scrolled rows and rows of letters across the screen. "Okay, I've seen this system..." he muttered, hitting a few more keys. The scrolling stopped, and then resumed again, but at a much slower pace. "That goes here and this goes there......" he said, grabbing words out of the scrolling passages and dragging them to other places. "And that should..."

Another screen opened, requesting a password.

"Damn," Fox said. He turned around. "Did we keep any of them alive?"

"One of them," another soldier replied.

"Get the password."

"Can't you just hack it?"

"That'll take too long, but I'll get started on it if he doesn't cooperate. Just get me the password." And he started typing again, opening yet another window of computer mumbo-jumbo.

"Er..... it isn't a he."

"Does it matter?" Fox asked. "Man or woman, just get me the-"

"It's a girl."

Fox stopped typing and looked up. ".... A girl?"

"She can't be older than fifteen."

"..... Bring her over.

The trooper nodded and walked around the long table covered with computers to the other side of the room. "Bring her over."

Two others nodded and grabbed someone who had apparently been on the floor, because she had been blocked from Fox's vision. "P-please!! Let me go! I'm not even s-supposed to b-be here!! I-"

"Shut up!" one of the soldiers shouted, swinging the butt of his gun across her face. She crumpled onto the ground, only to be brought back to her feet by one of the other soldiers. They next to dragged her over to Fox, holding her upright and slapping her face to make her open her eyes.

Fox looked her over. They were right, she must have been only fifteen or so. She had a natural looking shade of reddish-orange hair and bright, vibrant green eyes. Unfortunately, at the moment her hair was tossed into disarray and her eyes were filled with tears. A large purple wound was already forming where the stormtrooper had struck her.

"What's your name?" Fox asked, trying to sound as calm as he could.

"I'm s-sorry, I was j-just coming here l-looking for someone, I s-swear, I didn't do anything!" she sobbed, her sharp intakes of air interrupting her speech. "J-just don't k-k-kill me!!"

"We aren't going to kill you," Fox told her. "We just want to know the password to get into the anti-aircraft system."

"P-password?" she asked, glancing at the screen, tears still flowing down her cheeks. "I-I-I-I don't know. I r-really don't-"

"Hey!!" the stormtrooper supporting her yelled, whirling her around and hitting her across the face again. She flew backwards and into Fox, who caught her carefully in his arms. "You got asked a question girl, now you answer it!!"

"That's enough, Dice," Fox growled. The soldier shrugged and backed off. The girl whimpered as blood mixed with her tears. "Shh..... shh...." Fox said, trying to sooth the girl. "Are you okay?"

"... I-I don't know..." the girl stammered. Fox turned her around and looked at the large gash in her forehead.

"It doesn't look too deep," Fox said. "But you should probably go to a medical center as soon as you can."

"... You're g-gonna l-let me go?" she asked, blinking as some blood ran directly into her eye.

"Sure," Fox reassured her. "But first I need to know the password."

"I r-really don't know, I d-don't work here," she murmured, wiping at her eye. "I was just coming to s-see my dad b-before the-"

"World got blown up?" Fox asked.

"Mm-hmm," she nodded, still rubbing her eye and still crying.

"Tell you what," Fox said. "I'll let you go as soon as we leave. Alright?" She nodded. "Is your dad here?" She nodded again. ".... Did one of the others shoot him?" She nodded again.

"..... I'm really sorry," Fox insisted.

"... W-what are you guys doing h-here?" she asked, trying in vain to ward off a fresh wave of tears.

".... I can't tell you. Now, just.... just go and.... no, just stay right here. As soon as I finish with this I'll take you to the nearest medical ward. Understand?" She nodded. "Good." Fox turned back to the computer and continued the hack.

_"This job is getting worse all the time."_

**Back with Jacob...**

Jacob checked the clips he had pulled off the dead man to make sure they were all full before stuffing them into his shirt and charging off down the hall after the rest of the squad.

The next door opened again, but the squad was gone. Fortunately, there was only one exit from this room.

Back out the way he came.

"Huh?" he muttered. "There's got to be some sort of secret door around here." He started tapping on sections of the wall, but about halfway around the room, he heard a metallic, metal-on-metal clanking sound. He backed up front he wall and looked directly upwards and saw that, about twenty-five feet above him, the last of the stormtroopers was shutting off their silent jetpack and touching down in a what appeared to be a large metal shaft. Jacob didn't hesitate to blast five rounds through his chest.

The body fell down to the ground. Jacob reached for the jetpack, but suddenly the sound of laser fire filled the air as five soldiers at the top of the shaft started firing at him.

He responded by diving away from the body and onto the ground, spraying lasers into the air as he went down. The jetpack on the man's back was hit and it exploded in a huge ball of gasoline and fire, blasting upward in the suddenly missile-silo like room. The troopers ducked back and hit the deck as the explosion reached to top of the chamber, suddenly running out of fire power and stopping it's assent. They all looked up as the fireball died to smoke and lowered back down into the chamber. The got up and looked down, but the room was far too filled with smoke to see anything.

"No way he survived that," one of them said. And then a laser went straight through his chest and sent him falling over the edge.

The others again sprayed lasers into the smoke, but it only took a few seconds before they decided this was probably a loosing fight and turned tail and ran after their squadmates.

"Damn, that was a lucky shot. I had no idea that was gonna hit...."

Jacob stripped the jetpack from the new dead trooper, the body of the first one now a very crispy critter on the floor next to him. It didn't have any straps; it was usually strapped to a stormtrooper's armor.

"I probably won't be able to hold it..."

Suddenly, he heard the sound of the door opening through the smoke. He lifted his gun and pointed it in said direction, but the next thing he heard made him lower his weapon.

"Ah! Smoke! Smoke means fire! Fire mean fight!"

"Shh.... Stitch, keep your voice down."

"Sorry......"

"Who's there?" Jacob asked simply, his gun at his side.

"Well, who else is there? As in, who are you?"

"I asked first," Jacob said.

"I asked second."

"....... What?"

"I don't know."

"He got point. He DID ask first. Ih. First."

"But second is silver, and silver looks cooler than gold."

"Would you two just tell me who you are?" Jacob asked again.

"Right. I'm Zidane Tribal. And my blue buddy here is Stitch."

"Ih!"

"This is pointless," Jacob said. "Just come closer so I can see you through the smoke."

"But I can't breath in smoke!" Zidane said. "How can YOU breath in smoke?"

"Ih! He mutant!" Stitch suddenly insisted.

Jacob rolled his eyes. "If you don't mind, I'm busy with a rescue mission, so I'll talk with you gents later." He ignited the jetpack and, trying to steer by grabbing both sides of it and holding it steady, he shot into the air in a very jerky pattern.

Of course, since Zidane and Stitch could neither see nor hear the takeoff, the began having a heated argument about who was the cooler comic book mutant.

**Back with Fox's crew...**

Fox swiftly tapped a few more keys, finally breaking through the password protection and into the computer mainframe. "Right..." he muttered. "Let's see....." he clicked into a program, and again was met with a password. "......." He glanced at the girl, who hadn't said anything since he had questioned her.

"Fox, we don't have time for this," Dice said. "We've only got five minutes before the Death Star is in range. And if it does get blown up, we'll still be compromised."

"These will be offline," Fox replied, looking away from the girl and at his squadmate. "If you don't want to be late, I suggest you go catch up with the Commander. I'll stay here."

"..... Excuse me?"

"By the time you get to the extraction point I'll have gotten through this and you guys can dust off as soon as you arrive."

"...... And you're staying behind?"

"Why not?" Fox said. "_Better than having to listen to your bitching,_" he thought.

"And the girl?"

"Hostage in case they find me," he said simply, the girl looking at him in horror. If he meant it or not, she couldn't tell since his face was concealed behind his helmet.

Dice paused. "I don't believe you."

"What?"

"How am I supposed to know you aren't a double agent or something who's going to give up information to the Rebellion as soon as we're gone?"

Fox didn't reply.

"Here's a wonderful trick I've learned for those times when computers annoy me." He lifted his gun and shot it through the console, completely destroying it.

"THE HELL ARE YOU-?!?" Fox stood up, only to have Dice put a shot through his shoulder. The girl screamed, stumbling backwards and tripping over a wire, falling to the ground.

"Stay on the ground," Dice said, pointing his gun at the girl. He activated the radio in his helmet and said, "Double agent identified and downed. Computers in anti-aircraft control disrupted, security will most likely arrive to pick him up. The LZ may or may not be hot. Watch yourselves. Over."

"_Dice, who was the double agent, over?_" Sienex asked.

"Fox, sir."

"_... Fox?_"

"He's down and bleeding out right now. He'll be dead before anyone gets here."

"_.... It's... It's _Fox_?_"

"I'm as shocked as you are, sir." He didn't sound it.

"_Any witnesses?_"

"One."

"_Kill them._"

"Yes sir. Out."

"_Hold it, Dice! We ain't flying our hides into the landing zone until we know those guns are offline! And don't think for a second we won't leave you behind!_"

"_Vader won't be very pleased if you leave his targets to die on the surface of a doomed world,_" Sienex said.

"_....... We're coming right now. Out._"

"Out," Dice said, switching off. He glanced down at the girl, still on the floor, crying as the gash on her forehead continued to bleed. "Sorry about this. Kinda. Not really," he said, pointing his gun at her.

"P-please..... d-don't...... I don't wanna die......."

"Don't you want to see your father?" Dice asked, clearly sneering underneath his helmet. "Team!" he yelled. "Let's roll out!"

The other soldiers in the room nodded and, checking their weapons, entered the hall outside. Dice stayed, staring down from behind his helmet at the girl, his gaping black eye holes strangling her soul. He knelt down next to her. "Tell them what we can do," he said. "Tell them what we did," he continued, gesturing around at the bodies in the room. "And tell them that they can't hide anything from us," he finished, pointing at Fox. She nodded. "Good," Dice said as he slammed his armored fist across her face, leaving a long gouge across her cheek and knocking her out.

On the surface, in a large plaza-like section of the city...

Sienex, Ice, and Scarecrow burst through a door leading to the surface, quickly dispatching the two rebellion guards standing by. It looked as though the town was deserted; the civilians must have been in their houses together.

"Team B should be coming out of the south entrance," Ice said, glancing around.

"They're supposed to meet us here," Scarecrow said.

"Think I don't know that?" Ice asked. "I'm just recapping the plan."

Sienex rolled his eyes under his helmet and looked away from them. "Hey, flyboy," he said, speaking once again on the radio. "Where are you?"

_"E.T.A. at the LZ is twenty seconds. Standby."_

Sienex glanced around a few times before he heard Ice say, "Here they come." Sienex looked southward and saw seven stormtroopers charging at them, two of them carrying limp bodies over their shoulders.

"We've got the targets," their leader said as soon as he was close enough to be heard without shouting. "How long until our pick-up arrives?"

"Why didn't you contact us over the radio?" Sienex snapped, cutting him off. "You were supposed to contact us as soon as-"

"We ran into some trouble," he interrupted . "We didn't think that he had alerted anyone, but we were just being safe in case someone tried to tap in on us."

"Who was it?" Sienex asked.

"Not sure," the man replied. "But he may have ben the Jacob character."

Sienex didn't reply at first. "You... you're not sure?"

"No. But it could have been."

Suddenly, the pilot came in over their radios._ "Hey boys, we can see you and we're coming in from the north. We flew right over the guns and nothing. Looks like we're all clear, so be ready to leave as soon as we arrive."_

They looked up and saw the dropship as it lowered over the houses and approached them. It swooped directly above their position and maintained it's spot in the air at about thirty feet up. The rear hatch opened, and everyone primed their jetpacks.

And then, a laser few amongst them and found one of their jetpacks, destroying it and killing four of the soldiers instantly.

Sienex, Ice, Scarecrow, and a few others whirled around as Jacob came charging towards them, spraying lasers directly at them.

"Damn!" Ice yelled. "Check the bodies!!"

Scarecrow dropped Kairi's body and ducked down behind two piled-up bodies and quickly felt for pulses through the thin material around their necks. The two troopers carrying Sora and Terra also went for cover behind the other two bodies, pressing themselves as flat as they could onto the ground. Ice got down on one knee, propped Rinoa's body against his own as a sort of human shield, and opened fire at Jacob.

Jacob stepped to the side as Ice's lasers flew past him. He lifted his gun up and looked down the sights at Sienex, who hadn't had the chance to get down yet. _"Better than randomly spraying," _he thought. _"Otherwise I might hit another jetpack, and it might be closer to... someone I don't want to hit."_

Sienex whipped his rifle off his back and replied to Jacob's attack with two quick would-have-been headshots which Jacob barely avoided by cartwheeling out of the way at the last second, somehow still shooting.

Sienex growled and hit the dirt next to Scarecrow. "Anyone?"

He shook his head. "I've got no good news here, sir."

_"Sir!"_ the pilot suddenly said over the radio. _"Do you want us to open fire on your attacker, over?"_

"I wonder!" Sienex roared sarcastically . "You better blow him to hell in the next two seconds or the Death Star is gonna do the job on all of us!"

The pilot didn't need to be told again, and he started blasting the side-mounted laser cannons of the ship down at Jacob.

The lasers hit the ground near Jacob, the splash of the concrete ground it tore up flying towards him. He ducked and rolled away from his position as another two blasts destroyed the ground he had been standing on moments before.

"And where the hell is Dice?!?" Sienex yelled randomly. "He's supposed to be here by now!!"

"Why don't you just ring him up and ask him?" Ice asked, still crouching and firing at the dodging Jacob.

"Momentarily," Sienex said. He looked over at the two soldiers who had been carrying Sora and Terra. "Get onto the ship!" he yelled. "Use those two as human shields, he won't shoot them!"

They both nodded back and him and gathered their respective burdens before taking off, holding Sora and Terra in the direction of Jacob.

He looked up in time to see them fly off, but he was able to register that they had blocked themselves from him just as another blast hit the ground near him, sending him flying. He crashed face-first into the ground, and could feel his nose break upon impact.

"(R-Rated) him already, you (R-Rated)tards!" Sienex yelled. "This ain't hard!!!"

Jacob instantly snapped into a push-up position and flipped himself up and landed back on his feet, already pointing and shooting again.

"Dice!!!" Sienex yelled over the radio again, ducking as a laser from Jacob's gun narrowly missed his head. "Dice, hurry your ass up, or we're leaving without you!!"

_"Almost there sir! We're breaching the second floor staircase now!"_

"Make it snappy!" he yelled again, popping up and blasting at Jacob again. "You've got twenty seconds!" He lowered and looked at Scarecrow and Ice. "Get onto the ship! Use the chicks as human shields, I'll cover you!" They both nodded as Sienex quickly hopped the bodies and ignited his wrist-mounted blade, charging straight at Jacob. They both took off as soon as they saw Sienex had Jacob's undivided attention.

"You've got to be kidding me!!" Jacob yelled, blood from his nose splattering onto his mouth as another shot from the ship rocked the ground next to him. "I didn't sign on for this bull crap!" He lifted his gun and held down the trigger, laser after laser pelting at Sienex. He expertly deflected every blast, bouncing them off his sword and onto the ground or into the air. Jacob slowly started backing up, still firing as Sienex continued to sprint directly at him. The dropship had stopped shooting in interest of the Commander's life.

"Give it a rest already, kid!" Sienex yelled as he suddenly got close enough to swing his blade directly at Jacob's head. The young man ducked and dove between Sienex's legs, rolling onto the ground and then popping back to his feet, instantly pointing his rife behind him and shooting at Sienex's back. The trooper was too quick for him, however, and twisted so fast it seemed unreal, blocking the shots yet again. The gun made a 'click' sound as Jacob's last clip emptied. He hit a button on the side to release the clip, which he hurled at Sienex. The soldier sliced it in half in mid air and had already caught up with Jacob before the two smoking halves had hit the ground.

Jacob sung the rife, which Sienex also cut, leaving Jacob holding only the butt and stock of the gun. He swung that as well, this time catching the trooper before he could rear back his sword to strike again. Jacob slammed the ruined weapon into the soldier's helmet, knocking him back. As Sienex flew back, his arm swung up dangerously, nearly decapitating Jacob, who barely stepped out of the way in time.

Sienex looked up from the spot where he had hit the ground and saw that Jacob was already sprinting back in the direction of the hovering ship. "Damn," he muttered. "Open fire!"

The ship started blasting at Jacob again, who seemed to know the spots and times when each blast was to hit, barely jumping out the way at the last posable second, constantly moving forward. Sienex jumped to his feet and disengaged his sword, once again drawing his rife from his back. He charged after Jacob again, spraying and praying.

Jacob was doing some praying of his own as he leapt _over_ the explosion that suddenly issued in front of him. He twisted in mid air to check out Sienex's status and, seeing that he was still being followed and shot at, twisted again just in time to land feet first on the ground and continue running as another blast hit the ground two meters to his right.

Suddenly, one of the doors to the base was blown away as fifteen more Stormtroopers emerged into the sunlight. "The hell did I do to deserve this?!!?" Jacob yelled upon sighting them. He was momentarily distracted from them as he pulled a hard right as another blast hit the ground, throwing rubble into the air and momentarily blocking the newcomers from Jacob's view.

" 'Bout time!" Sienex yelled, using the radio so that they could hear him over the sound of explosions. "Get on the ship! We've only got two minutes before we get blown to hell!"

"Situation, sir?" Dice asked.

"Some kid who must be hopped up on meth or steroids or something is owning our asses on his own!!!! Wake up and smell the laser fire!!!" Sienex was screaming at the top of his lungs now. "Get on the ship and don't even bother with him!!!"

"One kid?" Dice asked as his men primed their jetpacks and started running towards the ship. "Rusty much, Commander? Let's just take him out."

"NO, YOU MORON!!!! GET ON THE SHIP!!!!!!"

"NEVA NALLA GWESTA!!!!!!"

"YEAH, THAT!!!!!!"

Suddenly, thief and alien rained down from the sky!

Stitch hit the ground in front of the newly arrived troops. "BWAHAHAHAHA!!" he cackled, grabbing one of the dead Stormtroopers and swinging it over his head with such force that when he charged right into the cluster of troops, anyone too near was suddenly familiarized with the skyline of Radiant Garden.

Zidane had his daggers in his hands before he landed at the rear of the group, tearing at their necks from behind. Before the jetpacks are primed and ready to activate, they've already gone through eight of them.

Jacob momentarily forgets himself and pauses to watch as the remaining seven suddenly activate their jetpacks and take off into the air. He is pulled back to reality when a laser blast from Sienex's rife whizzes past his face. He runs again, getting under the dropship so he doesn't have to worry about it's lasers anymore. He grabs one of the bodies and yanks off the still-operational jetpack and primes it with haste, pointing it straight at the cloud of troopers making a run for their ship.

It's ready.

He lets go.

It careens directly at them, forcing them to scatter. However, Dice himself is not quick enough and the blisteringly fast ignited backpack of death collides with the jetpack on his back, knocking it off of him and sending him falling to the ground.

Jacob doesn't get any time to think about how that benefited him before Sienex is on top of him again with his glowing sword of cut-anything-up-ness. He swings at Jacob again, who pulls a backflip to avoid the fatal blow. Jacob backs up a few steps, and a very annoyed Sienex charges him... only to trip over the body of one of the fallen Stormtroopers.

Jacob wiped his brow of sweat and spat a wad of saliva onto Sienex's helment. He quickly grabbed a pistol from another of the fallen bodies and turned, taking one quick shot at one of the flying troopers. The jetpack again exploded, toasting the trooper through his armor and rocking the ship which he was about to board. One of the other soldiers was knocked off course and crashed right in front of Jacob.

Sienex started to rise from the ground, but Jacob blindly placed a perfect kick into his faceplate and slammed his head back into the ground.

The new trooper looked up at Jacob and hopped to his feet, and, not even bothering to draw his weapon, raised his fists to engage Jacob.

"Sorry, pal," Jacob muttered. "You're not my type." And with that, he promptly jumped, spun around, and, upside down, wrapped his legs around the soldier's head and jerked violently, breaking the man's neck.

Sienex looked up to see Jacob facing backwards and upside down at him. He didn't have time to react before Jacob had slammed the remains of his rifle into the Commander's face again in mid flip. Sienex recoiled, but this time rolled a safe distance away before he attempted to get up. At the same time, Jacob flipped again and threw the dead trooper into the air.

And he did all that without touching the ground.

"I'd like to see Sora do that!" Jacob said as he brushed himself off. "Now, where were we? Oh yeah." He pointed his pistol at Sienex and pulled the trigger. Sienex popped into a push-up position like Jacob had and the laser hit the ground just under his chest. Jacob fired again, but Sienex popped up and twirled in the air, the laser flying past him and across the ruined plaza.

"You're learning," Jacob said as Sienex touched down.

"Me?" Sienex asked. "Hmfh. I'd stay and see if you've learned anything from me, but I've got a ride to catch." He ignited his jetpack and his sword at the same time. "You're skilled," Sienex said. "I suppose the fact that I caught you off guard was the only reason I beat you back on that other world."

"No. I underestimated you."

"Either way, I'll be seeing you."

Jacob fired a shot, even knowing that it would never hit. Sienex blocked and swooped over Jacob. He rolled out of the way in time, and Sienex went up and into the ship directly above them.

And it had been less than one minute since Jacob first got topside.

Several moments ago, Dice had slowly risen to his feet to find that Zidane and Stitch were both standing over him.

"Armor ugly," Stitch commented.

"Any last words?" Zidane asked.

He rolled his neck, and grinned under his helmet. "Three: Place. Your. Bets."

Suddenly, he had leapt into the air and hurled countless tiny dice onto the ground in front of Zidane and Stitch. The small dot-numbers flashed red for a split second before each releasing their own individual explosion.

Zidane and Stitch went flying. Dice hit the ground again and charged towards the ship. "Commander!" he hollered. "Give me a lift!!"

"Snooze and lose, Dice!" Sienex yelled, boarding the ship. "Take us out of here!"

The dropship turned and started to fly towards the edge of town, slowly elevating.

"Damn it, Sienex!!!" He yelled. "You're not leaving me here!!" he hurled another handful of dice, which he seemed to summon from no where, after the ship. They exploded in mid air and rocked it slightly, but that was enough; Kairi's limp form fell out of whoever's arms were holding her and plummeted toward the ground.

Jacob saw her body fall and charged for it, but Dice was closer. He ran and dove just in time to snatch Kairi's form out of the air and continue running after the ship. He slung her over his back so that Jacob couldn't take any shots at him.

_"He's smart,"_ Jacob thought, not talking about the now completely overused human shield. _"He's making them turn around to come back and get him."_

Meanwhile, Stitch and Zidane were getting back onto their feet. "Ooohhhhh..... head go spin spin......." Stitch slurred, rubbing his forehead.

"Come on, we ain't got time to hang around!" Zidane yelled as though nothing had happened, charging after Dice and Kairi.

Sienex was not very happy at this turn of events. "You!" he yelled, pointing at a random trooper. "Go and pick them up!" The trooper nodded and jumped out of the ship, starting his jetpack... only only to get pistol sniped from 100 plus yards away by Jacob. ".... Anyone else wanna try?"

"Screw that," Ice said. "We're gonna have to do this the old fashioned way." He grabbed for a nearby locker and quickly withdrew a huge line of rope. "Tie this to the winch," he said, tossing it to Scarecrow. "I'll tell the pilot to slow down."

Scarecrow nodded as Ice departed, and he got down on his knees and began looping and knotting the rope around the winch which was attached to the boarding ramp. The ship slowed down and lowered a good deal as Scarecrow released the rope.

The ship was nearing the city walls. They stayed low over a straight street that extended all the way from the plaza to the edge of town as Dice, Jacob, Zidane and Stitch all chased after them.

Ice came back in. "Pilot says that we've got to leave without them in thirty seconds if there's any chance of getting outside of the blast zone!" he reported.

"Dice!" Sienex yelled over the radio. "You've got thirty seconds and we can't go any slower! Move your ass!!!"

Dice was ten yards away from the rope and he was moving faster than the ship. Jacob, Stitch, and Zidane were thirty yards behind.

"We're-_inhale_-not-_exhale_-gonna-_inhale_-make it-_exhale_," Zidane panted, still sprinting with all his might.

"Who on ship?" Stitch asked, keeping a steady pace with Jacob.

"Princesses Kairi and Rinoa, Sora the Keybearer-"

"Spiky-head?" Stitch asked. Jacob nodded, but for the most part ignored him, wishing that his burning legs and lungs could work faster. "Sora! Gotta save Sora!"

Suddenly, Jacob found himself lifted up by a small blue alien and carried at a pace so fast that his cheeks flopped past back his ears.

The ship was about to fly over the edge of the wall. Dice reached the rope and grabbed onto it just as the ship pulled up. His feet barely missed the wall as the ship slowly rose into the air.

However, they were followed closely by Stitch and Jacob. Stitch simply jumped onto the wall, jumped off of that, and hurled Jacob through the air with the force of a cannon. "Save Sora!!" was the last thing he yelled before he went plummeting towards the baron purple ground below him.

Jacob couldn't help but be a little bit shocked when the throw sent him perfectly at the very end of the rope, which he caught and abruptly ended his flight. The ship was going slow enough that the rope was hanging straight down and wasn't being blown back. Jacob took a deep breath as every cell in his body suddenly went back to work after the short rest when Stitch was carrying him. He looked up to see that Dice was only a few feet above him, and was climbing up the rope with one hand and two feet, the other hand wrapped around Kairi's waist.

"For the_ love_ of all that is _good_, doesn't he _ever_ (R-Rated)ing _give UP?!?!?!?!_" Sienex exclaimed. "Pull the rope up! And as soon as Dice is on board, cut it!" Scarecrow activated the winch, which quickly started to pull the rope up and into the ship.

Jacob felt the rope jerk as it was pulled up and into the ship. He held onto the rope for dear life with one hand and grabbed at his pistol. He aimed as best he could from his hanging position at the mechanism next to the winch that was pulling them up. He fired a shot. Miss. Another.

Hit.

The rope jerked as it stopped it's upward motion as the thing wheeling the winch was blow away, but the ship sped up, and suddenly the rope very much resembled the tail of a kite; flapping about behind the main body, completely at the mercy of either the wind or the kite, whichever was stronger.

Dice was almost half way up the rope, even with his handicapped climbing style. Jacob raised his pistol to shoot at the armored man, but decided against it. He could hit Kairi, and even if he were to hit Dice, the odds of him catching Kairi were about a million to one.

Of course, the fact that the suddenly operational anti-aircraft guns fired at the ship, exploded in mid air next to it, and rocked it so much that Jacob's gun was knocked from his hands didn't help matters.

**Moments before, in the anti-aircraft control room...**

She opened her eyes.

She was still in the anti-aircraft control room. Her tears had trickled into the gash on her face, and the salt burned at her exposed flesh. She tilted her head to the side, her vision suddenly blurring. Though dazed as she was she could make out the armor incased form of Fox on the ground next to her. She couldn't tell if he was awake or not; his helmet concealed his face.

She shifted and looked up at the ceiling, trying to let her eyes focus in on something.

"... They destroyed the main computer," she though, the gears of her mind slowly beginning to whir. "That... that might trigger an alarm or something. Someone could catch them. Someone could come and find us.""

Her simple thoughts again left her mind as both the wounds on her forehead and her cheek gave a sudden throb. She bit her tongue as the ceiling seemed to dance before her eyes, her mind tossed into disarray.

Clumsily, she attempted to stand, not really understanding her own actions. As soon as she was up she stumbled to the ground, catching herself with both hands just before her face hit the ground. She rose shakily, leaning against a row of still-operational computers for support. She glanced down at Fox again; she could see a large pool of blood accumulated around his right shoulder. She continued to look at him for a few moments, but he still didn't move. Her vision wavered like tall grass blown about in the wind, and she couldn't tell if he had stopped bleeding or not.

She again stumbled, but this time intentionally. Across the open place between the rows and to the destroyed computer from before. She hit her knees hard in front of it, and stared at the broken screen, which still flickered on and off. She stared, again hoping to focus, but staring only made her feel suddenly sick. She looked for a few more seconds before she promptly emptied the contents of her stomach onto the floor, narrowly missing Fox's feet.

Not bothering to wipe her mouth, she trembled in weakness as she looked at the flickering, broken screen again. Illegible words flashed before her.

"Is it still working?"

Fox was awake. Maybe he'd been awake the whole time, she didn't know.

She let out a moan in response to his question, bowing her head as a bit of vomit dripped off her chin. "H-how...... how long until..."

"The Death Star will be in range in exactly thirty-four seconds if your people don't destroy that thing," Fox answered, not even needing to hear the question. "However, it takes a minute or so to prime the weapon and lock on and such.

"... And....... y-your squad.....?"

"They're probably taking off as we speak."

Her vision straightened suddenly and she could read the flickering message before her.

'Please enter password to re-activate anti-aircraft weapons.'

"Do you know the p-password for the system?" she asked, her voice low and weak.

"It's five characters," Fox said. "That's all I know."

She glanced past him at the body which had been pulled off the computer. "That man, h-he was w-working on this one, right?"

"Yeah."

She glanced at the keyboard.

"Ten seconds."

She started typing.

E. M. I. L. Y.

'Password accepted, Mr. Sutan. Guns online.'

And then the computer died.

"Three... two... one... In range," Fox reported.

_"My name is the password,"_ she thought. She glanced at the body._ "Thanks, dad."_ And again, her vision blurred, and Emily collapsed onto the floor.

**Outside the city...**

Stitch lifted his head up out of the dirt as the massive anti-aircraft turret on the wall unleashed a barrage of fire at the drop ship. "Ih?" he asked, turning around and looking up at the gun. He followed it's line of fire to see it's target was the dropship. "No!" he shouted, turning and running at the wall. "No shoot! Good guys on ship!!"

Before he could reach the wall, however, an old rusty pickup truck suddenly shot out over the edge and fell to the ground, skidding to a halt just before it would have hit the blue alien.

Not that it would have hurt him. He could crumple that car like a scrap of paper.

Zidane looked out at him from the driver's seat. "Come on, get in!" Stitch cocked his head to the side in a questioning fashion. "Hey, I'm a thief. This is what thieves do."

Stitch pointed up at the guns. "Stop the shooting!"

Zidane stuck his head out the window and looked up at it, then down at Stitch. "Buddy, there's no way that we'll be able to take that thing out."

"Grrr.... bang bang!" he said pointing a little finger pistol at the huge gun.

"Look, just get in and we'll go help them! I've got an idea!"

Stitch looked hesitant, but he got into the car and Zidane put the pedal to the rusty metal as the shot off after the dropship.

**Up in the air...**

"........"

Jacob wasn't having the time of his life. He would have been climbing up the rope after Dice, but if he were to remove one hand from the rope for even a split second, the ship's evasive swerving would have most likely thrown him off.

Suddenly, the ship dipped down low over the ground, attempting to A: Avoid the gun and B: splat Jacob against the hard earth like a car crashing into a fuel tanker. Jacob took the risk of letting go and gave a mighty heave, launching himself up the rope seconds before he would have been smeared against the rocks. Bits of the rope were ground away by the jagged stones until the tip of the once sturdy rope had been eaten away by a good four feet.

The ship swooped even lower, but this time there was much less danger for Jacob involved; they had flown into the Great Maw. _"They're trying to avoid the cannon fire," _Jacob thought as the guns pounded away at the edges of the ridge, large chunks of rock falling away and hitting the ground with thunderous crashes that Jacob could hear a good two-hundred meters away.

Up in the ship, things weren't going well either.

"Death Star in range!!!" Ice yelled.

"We're screwed!!!" someone else shouted.

"Hold it!!" Sienex shouted, looking up at the sky. They waited.

_Boom!!!!_

Suddenly, the sky was lit up by a massive explosion above the atmosphere, so large that, even though they couldn't see the Death Star in the sky moments ago, they could see this now.

"Holy......" Scarecrow muttered.

"Tell the pilot that he can cut the risks now!" Sienex said. "He plays it safe!"

"And, uh, what happens when the ships that just blew that thing up come down here?" Ice asked.

"Screw playing it safe, we're going all out!"

"Wait... ah man, Dice," Scarecrow said, looking down over the edge. He was still down there, and both he and Jacob had gained some serious ground during their brief straight flight pattern they had been going with for the last few seconds. "We've gotta shake things up, we can't stay in this canyon forever."

"Agreed," Sienex said. "Rifle me." They handed him one, and, compensating for the movement of the ship, took aim and fired. Jacob swung as hard as he could, but the pressure from the constantly incoming wind on the rope prevented even the slightest movement unless the ship was the one that created it. His only option was to once again heave himself upwards as the rope he had clung to a second ago was fried off by the shots. Sienex aimed again, but swore and lowered his weapon. "He's too close to Dice. Clever little so of a-"

Suddenly, the ship swerved with such abruptness that the soldiers could only assume that a wall had materialized right in front of them.

Jacob knows better, however; they nearly ran headlong into Disney Castle.

From his unfortunate position on the rope, he has no choice but to hold on as the ship suddenly goes full 90 degrees up and along the edge of the castle, barely avoiding collision. Jacob, Dice, Kairi and the rest of the rope are thrown into the shield up around the castle and slammed into the wall.

Even with only one hand on the rope, Dice somehow manages to hold on and not drop Kairi. Jacob, however, hits a balcony at an obscure angle and looses his grip on the rope, plummeting a short five feet before he manages to kick off the wall and grab the rope again. Jacob looks up at Dice, who has just gained ground on him in the race to get to the top of the rope. Jacob swings as hard as he can and his feet connect with the wall. Still holding the rope with one hand, he runs straight up the wall at such a speed that he just barely goes faster than the dropship's own speed.

The soldiers in the ship are preoccupied holding on for dear life, as relinquishing hold on whatever it was they were holding would result in them being thrown from the open entrance in the back of the craft.

_"Sirs!"_ the pilot suddenly said over the radio. "_It appears that the cannons are programed not to fire when I'm in front of this structure! I'm going to take us into a hover and fire our weapons and destroy those things so we can bugger off!"_

"Hurry it up!!" Sienex yelled.

The pilot pulled out of his straight-up flight and few upside down for a moment before he flipped and put the ship into a hover directly in front of the uppermost towers of the castle. Only as they stopped did they notice that the cannons had indeed stopped firing. Missiles suddenly launched from the craft at the nearest turret and at a few of the others that were on the near corners of the city. They all exploded on impact.

"Hell yeah!" the pilot cried. "Let's get out of here!"

Sienex looked out over the edge at Jacob and Dice, who were still climbing. "Dice!" he said over the radio. "We're gonna leave the world's atmosphere, and if you're not on board, we're gonna close the hatch without you!!"

_"That doesn't sound like much fun. Be right up."_

The pilot redirected the ship again and started shooting off into the sky.

Until, suddenly, a miracle occurred.

Terra stirred in the arms of her Stormtrooper captor. The man noticed, but brushed it off as she did not open her eyes. However, as soon as Terra felt the eyes move off her, she barely cracked her eyelids open and scanned the room.

_"Extracting V.I.P.s and cleaning house!"_ Jacob had said.

And they had been shooting at the two of them. The fact that she suddenly found herself in their company was most likely not a coincidence.

Terra, with a sudden burst of strength, tore herself away from the man and charged for the opening, only to, of course, find that they were hundreds of feet in the air.

And that Jacob was hanging from a rope below them.

"Damn it, stop her!!!" Sienex yelled as everyone in the chamber (except the two with Sora and Rinoa) suddenly pounced on her.

"Ahhh!!!" she screamed as far too many hands suddenly grabbed at her. "Jacob!!!!"

He looked up to see Terra standing on the very edge of the ship, struggling with the troopers, and shouted as loud as he could over the wind. "TERRA!!!!! SHOUT 'THUNDERA'!!!!!"

"THUNDERA!!!!!" she screamed just as a hand clapped over her mouth. Too late, though; a massive bolt of lightning suddenly rained down from the sky and zapped into the ship.

The volt surged through everything on the ship, instantly killing the pilot, who wasn't insulated like the troopers. Terra, however, suddenly felt her body filled with the force of her own attack. She screamed as surges of visible pale yellow light were released from her body and blasted the soldiers back. The energy stopped, and she fainted over the edge of the ship.

The ship came to an abrupt halt since the pilot had died, and Terra fell straight down the rope. Dice didn't even have time to react in any way before she had already passed him.

Jacob attempted to reach one-handed for her, but a sudden after-shock resembling bolt of electricity seeking out other places to run decided that the rope was a good candidate and zapped the area right above Jacob.

The rope instantly caught on fire in that one particular spot, and the electricity that surged throughout it caught the rest ablaze too. Electricity worked it's way into Jacob, the energy filling his entire being, making his hair stand on end. He froze in pain as his body cried out in pain, but the halt in motion was only momentary before his hand relinquished it's hold on the flaming rope.

Only seconds later, and moments before Dice would have been on the ship, the rope was blown away like the ash it was and he and Kairi also fell.

**Back in the base...**

Fox looked through his helmet at the girl, and then glanced at the timer that was displayed in the top left-hand corner of his visor.

'One minute elapsed'

"They must have blown it up," he though. He lifted his good left arm up and reached for his shoulder blade. The hole that had been burned through both the armor and his shoulder had, luckily, not destroyed the release latch.

He pressed down on a few points and the armor covering his arm suddenly popped loose off his torso. He pulled the armor down and off of his arm and then looked at the wound. It wasn't pretty. A massive hole was surrounded by flesh that looked as though it had been burned and then cut open to bleed. Everything was a sickeningfleshy red color.

"Computer," he said. "Damage assessment."

A virtual crosshair appeared on his visor, which slid about for a few moments before it locked on to the hole. A cold female voice said, "Damage severe. Full penetration. Surgery may be required. Loss of use of right arm probable. Advise immediate bacta treatment."

He reached down to his waist and removed a device resembling a srynge but with several other attachments. The container appeared to hold some sort of water-resembling liquid, which bubbled considerably. To arm the device, he would need two hands.

"Girl," he said, looking back to her limp form. She didn't respond. "Wake up!" he shouted, not to be rude, but just because he really, really, really didn't want to lose his right arm. But all she did in return was release a soft moan of what may have been pain before continuing to inhale and exhale silently.

"Computer, activate Tone 7, frequency 1." Suddenly, the speaker which usually projected Fox's voice released a hideous high-pitched, screeching sort of noise. The familiar sound of a nail scraping against a black board.

It continued for about thirty seconds before the girl reached for her ears in her unconsciousness, covering them from the noise. However, her brain seemed to work out that it wanted to know what the sound was, because she sat up and, still covering his ears, looked over at Fox.

He turned off the sound and quickly said, "I need some help."

She lowered her hands and, still weak, muttered "My..... my name is Emily...."

"Emily, then," Fox said. "Need help. Now."

"We.... we're not dead," she noticed. "How long was I out?"

"Little more than two minutes," Fox said. "Your people must have destroyed the Death Star. Now, my right arm needs some attention right now."

She nodded and lifted her head up to look at his eyes... visor... thing. "What do you need?"

"Arm this," he said, lifting up the object in question.

Either she was too week, too asleep or too trustful of Fox to question what the object was. She knee-walked her way to his side and took the object for his hand.

"Now.... hold the tube with both hands...."

The step-by-step set up of the very complicated device took almost a minute, not aided by Emily's weary, clumsy hands.

"Okay... now... insert the needle one inch into the flesh around the hole," Fox said. "There's a red stripe to indicate the one inch mark." She nodded and leaned over him and injected the needle into his charred flesh. Fox went rigged for a moment from the sudden pain, but when she stopped he nodded for her to continue. She kept pushing it in until the red strip contacted the red flesh. "And now inject." Emily held the needle as straight as she could as she hit a button on the side, the liquid suddenly sucked out of the tube and down the needle into his body.

"It's called bacta," Fox said as Emily carefully withdrew the needle. "It'll make my body produce more blood to replace that which I have lost and start to regrow some of the damaged skin."

"That isn't gonna be enough," she said bluntly.

"I got that already," he replied. "Think you can go and get someone's attention? I need to get to a medical ward as soon as I can."

".... Are you gonna be alright?" she asked.

"Are you?"

"........ I can handle it."

"Good. Hurry."

She nodded and got up, almost stumbling as her head spun from the sudden move movement. But she did her best to straighten herself so as to reassure Fox before quickly leaving the room.

**Elsewhere...**

_Clink_.

Irvine, Slammer and Blaze toasted each other shortly with their aluminum beer cans before downing the liquids in a quick, simultaneous chug.

"Boy, this stuff is good," Irvine slurred.

"And best of all, if the world doesn't get blown up, it isn't strong enough to give us hangover," Slammer added.

"Actually, I've already gone through about 'hic' fifteen already," Irvine replied.

"I like this guy more every second," Blaze laughed, taking another swig of whatever it was they were drinking.

"And I had some other 'hic' drinks of questionable 'hic' alcohol-ness before I even found these."

"And another second," Blaze said.

"Hell, we've barely touched alcohol since the Clone Wars. Ain't that right, Blaze?" Slammer asked.

"Yeah. It sucks working for the Empire."

"Well, it's gonna 'hic' suck even more in a few minutes if we actually blow that thing up," Irvine pointed out.

Blaze glanced down at the cast around his leg from where he had been shot out in the streets. "Wish we could help."

"We don't even know how to fly those ships," Slammer said.

"I still feel useless."

"That's because we 'hic' are," Irvine smiled.

"Never mind, I don't like him anymore."

They sat in silence for a few moments before a voice came from around the corner.

"Ugh.... Come on big guy, hold it together...."

"Hmm, I guess you're right, I am drinking too much..." Irvine muttered.

Slammer and Blaze looked up. They hadn't expected anyone to be this deep in the base. But around the corner came Squall, supporting a burly man in Stormtrooper armor, bloodied bandages wrapped around the man's head.

"Crap," Slammer muttered as he jumped to his feet. "What's going on?"

"Some Stormtroopers have infiltrated the base and are trying to get V.I.P.s off world before it goes boom," Squall replied, shifting a bit as the man almost slipped off of him. "I need a radio."

"Yeah," Slammer said, turning to Blaze. "Toss it." Blaze grabbed the radio sitting next to his chair and tossed it to Squall.

"Thanks," Squall said shortly before placing the man on the ground carefully and pressing the talk button. "This is Squall Leonhart, requesting Dr. Cid. Repeat, this is Squall Leonhart, requesting Dr. Cid. We have a code red."

**Back out in the skies...**

"Goddamn it!!!!" Sienex screamed as he watched Jacob, Terra, Dice and Kairi twist and tumble through the air. "This has got to be the worst damn op I've ever (R-Rated)ing been on!!!!"

"Likewise, sir," Ice said as he looked down after them as well. "I'm not the only one who's noticed that an old pickup truck is on our six and closing, right?"

The ship jerked as one of the other soldiers grabbed the controls and did his best to lower the ship, but they weren't going nearly fast enough to catch the group before they hit the ground.

"Vader is gonna be so damn pissed...." Sienex muttered. "Wait, what truck?"

"Yeah!! It's hero time!!!" Zidane yelled as he shifted gears and the car jerked as it sped up abruptly.

"Get ready to meet Stitch, stinky heads!" Stitch hollered in the passenger seat, grinning with delight.

The truck got closer and closer the the falling figures of Terra, Jacob, Dice and Kairi. The only ones who were awake, namely Jacob and Dice, were both trying to think of something they could do to stop their impending doom. Jacob had at first started rummaging through his pockets, but he had emptied most of them of much of his gear since he hadn't exactly been expecting a fight. Plus, he had already used his rubber raft, and those things took some time to deflate and fold up.

Dice wasn't having any luck either. He was just hoping that the ship would come and grab him and was, in the mean time, hurling his dice in Jacob's direction.

Zidane and Stitch ground to a halt under the soon-to-be splat-down zone. Zidane and Stitch both threw their doors open and jumped up onto the hub cap. "Ready?" Zidane asked, looking down. Stitch nodded and clapped his hands excitedly. "Okay then." He looked up at the falling figures and thought for a half a moment about how unlikely it was that this would ever work.

_"Screw logic. I've got a freaking monkey tail and my partner is a little blue fluffy alien."_

"Now!!!"

Stitch grabbed Zidane and hurled him up into the air with all his might. He let out a laugh before he jumped after him as well.

Jacob looked down and, though his eyes were filled with tears created by the wind, he could make out the forms of Zidane and Stitch hurtling towards him. Zidane collided into him with such force Jacob was sure he had just busted his entire rib cage. His momentum polarized, which was not a good feeling. Zidane's tail snatched Terra's form out of the air at the same time, wrapping around her waist and the very tip patting her ass.

"So not the time for that," Jacob groaned.

"Womanizer," was all Zidane had to say in response.

They then missed Dice and Kairi by inches, who, since they were traveling at such a high speed and in the opposite direction, vanished so fast Jacob wasn't even sure they were real.

Stitch, however, got a reminder of just how real Dice was when his head slammed right into the Stormtrooper's chest, reversing Dice and Kairi's motion instantly and sending them all flying back up into the sky.

Zidane, Jacob, and Terra's movement suddenly arched as they slowed down and, conveniently, swooped right into the dropship's open entrance.

"You've got damn good timing," Jacob said as his feet touched the metal floor of the room.

"Eh, I try."

Sienex had had it. "WHY THE (R-Rated)ING (R-Rated) AREN'T YOU (R-Rated)TARDS DEAD YET! (R-Rated) DAMN SONS OF SHIT EATING BITCHES!!!!!!!"

"Dude, people are trying to sleep, you know," Zidane said, gesturing to Sora and Rinoa. "Oh, and of course this beautiful young lady here..." he said, shifting Terra from his tail to his arms.

"........ DUDE!!!" Ice suddenly yelled. "Kid's got a TAIL!!!!"

"Yes, yes, but let's not be envious just because you were not blessed with my freak fifth appendage."

Suddenly, with speed that could only be found in a master thief looking at the prospect of holding very hot women (and a dumb teen dude) in his arms. He flashed around the room so fast that before anyone even had time to blink, he had already returned to his original spot, this time holding Rinoa and Terra, and had already placed Sora in Jacob's arms.

"When did I agree to this?" Jacob asked.

"When you ditched me and Stitch mid-conversation, smoke-breathing mutant."

None of the soldiers even made a move of any kind until they had to move their heads to watch as Stitch, Dice, and Kairi all came crashing into the ship as well.

"Okay. This isn't worth it," Scarecrow said. "Get the hell out of here."

Jacob and Zidane looked at him oddly. "Excuse me?" Jacob said.

"The targets aren't dead, and we can get them another day," Scarecrow replied. "However, our boss won't be very pleased if we come back with any more dead men."

"Hm. Well, thank you for your cooperation," Jacob responded. "But that was way too easy."

"Yeah, it was!!!" Sienex suddenly yelled, his blade extending from his arm. "Let's smite the kid where he stands!!!!!!!!"

_"Oh crap, he's serious," _Jacob thought.

"Yeah, we're actually gonna take you up on the whole, 'another time, another place' thing. See ya." And with that, he jumped out the back of the craft, taking Terra and Rinoa with him.

Jacob stood there and pondered just why Zidane had done something so stupid before he found himself doing the same thing as Sienex took a swipe at his head.

Stitch seemed to notice that his group had left, so he blew the soldiers a quick raspberry before jumping out as well, grabbing Kairi on the way out.

There was a long moment of silence before one of the soldiers near the back of the group said, "Okay, I quit."

**Longest chapter ever. I was about ready to shoot my mind for not wanting to stop. Really, I hated myself for writing this. Oh well, hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter is much shorter, so it should be out early April.**

** And just to avoid any confusion, yes, the Stormtroopers are gonna bail and leave these guys alone.... for now O_o....**

** No disclaimers this time around, but you may have noticed, lots and lots of claimers. I own all of Sienex's squad members, who will all get individual listing on my profile. I also own Emily, the girl from the anti-aircraft control room. She's going to become one of the main characters later on, but for now she's just going to play a supporting role. **

** And for any wondering, no, Dice is not some form of Luxord, despite the resembling theme. I don't want to spoil anything, but there is a reason for Dice's dice...**

** I think that's it. Someone remind me if I missed anyone. **

** Lastly, you should all know that from now on, whenever Jacob says 'Sorry pal, you're not my type', bad stuff's gonna happen. I'll admit that I stole the line from Uncharted 2's Nathan Drake, who utters it at the beginning of the last level of the game, shortly before he has to fight with man who's hopped up on sap from The Tree of Life. And seeing as Drake's one of my favorite video game characters of all time, I chose this line as Jacob's catchphrase. It won't show up much though, but watch out. If he says it, people, good or bad, are about to get screwed.**


	31. Reconstruction and Relocation

**I lied. I released this before April. I know you hate me for it (sarcasm). This chapter took me next to no time for whatever reason. If that's a reflection of the quality of the chapter, that's for you to decide. (Hint-hint review you jerks)**

**This chapter is almost as long as the last one, but not quite. Also, no action sequences. It'll seem a bit wordy, but there's some really important stuff going on, so pay attention. Lots and lost of hints buried deep within these paragraphs...**

**Chapter 31: Reconstruction and Relocation**

**On the barren surface of Radiant Garden...**

Jacob laded on the rocky ground relatively softly, his speed broken by Stitch, who had beaten him and Zidane to the ground and then jumped back up repeatedly to break their falls slowly. They touched down and looked back up into the sky, to see that the dropship had already risen up into the sky and was starting to disappear from view.

"That... was TOTALLY AWSOME!!" Zidane shouted. "We scared the PISS out of those losers!!"

"Fly away, stinky heads!" Stitch yelled after them, pinching his nose.

Jacob could only roll his eyes at the two before going to inspect the four unconscious bodies. After making sure that they were all still breathing and had a steady pulse, he glanced at Zidane and Stitch, who were exchanging high-fives. "You guys wanna tell me why the hell you were deep enough in the base to find me?"

Zidane looked away from Stitch and frowned. "You ask a lot of questions, Mr. ...?"

"Jacob."

"No last name?"

There was a moment of hesitation. "No."

Stitch and Zidane both exchanged glances shortly before Zidane answered Jacob's question. "Little dude here started sniffing up a storm and insisted that we follow the trail. Lead us straight to you."

"... Smell?" Jacob asked.

"Ih," Stitch replied. "Stinky head smell!"

Jacob couldn't help but roll his eyes again. "Help me get these guys into the back of the truck."

"You wanna sit in the back with them?" Zidane asked.

Zidane had clearly missed the dirt and sweat that was smudged all over Jacob's face from when he had been dragged along by a ship by a rope, which, by the way, made his arms feel like utter crap. Not to mention every other muscle in his body felt like they had been ripped to shreds and that he had just had a lightning bold sent right through his system.

"I'm riding shotgun. No questions asked."

"........ What's up your ass?"

Jacob didn't even bother replying as he snatched Terra up of the ground and moved her into the back of the truck before returning for the others, only to see that Zidane and Stitch had picked them up and were coming to load them as well.

**Somewhere...**

The man carefully pulled another splinter out of the woman's body with a pair of tweezers and dropped it into a nearby trash can. He placed yet another band-aid over the skin. The woman moaned slightly at the contact with her wound.

The man withdrew to reach for the tweezers again, but one of the arms that lay at the woman's side suddenly rose and grabbed his hand.

Cloud looked at Tifa in surprise, expecting her to wake. But she remained unconscious, and only released another soft moan. Cloud held her for a few more moments before gently placing her hand back down and resuming his work.

**Back on Radiant Garden...**

The truck cruised back towards the city wall, Jacob riding in the passenger seat and looking like he was going to pass out. Zidane was driving, and Stitch was sitting between them, his size not taking up much room.

Jacob glanced out the back window and saw that everyone was still there, but no one had awoken yet.

_"Terra got fried,"_ Jacob thought. _"I didn't even expect her to live through that. Then again, I didn't expect her to get shocked in the first place... guess her magic is even stronger than I thought..."_

"Hey!" Zidane shouted. Apparently he had been trying to get Jacob's attention for a while now. "What you thinking about?"

Jacob looked at him quickly and replied with a short "Nothing," before leaning against his door and looking out the front window towards the city.

Zidane decided to keep the silence for a few moments before he felt the urge to ask, "Are you from this world?"

Jacob nodded.

"Hmm. I'm from a world a lot bigger than this one. It's called Gaia. Freaking HUGE place, man."

Jacob didn't look at him, but asked, "How'd you end up here?"

"Simple enough," Zidane answered. "A buddy magiced me out at the last second before I would have gotten eaten by some killer vine things coming from this huge tree. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to aim properly, so I kinda got hurled randomly into space."

"What happened to your buddy?"

"Don't know. He had kinda given up on life, you know? Probably just let those things rip right through him."

Jacob couldn't help but say, "Sorry."

"It's okay, I suppose," Zidane said. "He was too far gone to save anyway."

They rode in silence again, only broken by the noise of Stitch sticking one of his claws up his nose and pulling out a wad of booger the size of a pea and flicking it out the open window.

"I've seen you around in the town," Zidane said. "I've been here for a few months now."

"Never seen you."

"Well duh, I'm a thief. If you saw me I wouldn't be doing a very good job."

"Ever robbed me?"

"......"

"Come on, admit it, my pockets were too tempting."

"........ Okay. I stole about 100 munny from you and a bag of chips."

"..... Heh....."

"Something funny?"

"..... Nah....." Jacob turned to look out the back window again, and saw that Rinoa was starting to wake. "Stop the car."

"Eh?" Zidane looked out the window as well. "Aw man," he said, hitting the brakes. "And we were just about to get to your back story."

"Some other time," Jacob said, getting out of the car.

Zidane and Stitch glanced at each other before Stitch said, "He never gonna tell us."

"Probably not," Zidane said. "But if a man's got stuff he don't wanna share, he don't have to share it."

And with that, Zidane opened the door as well and hopped out, followed closely by his blue alien companion.

Jacob had already swung himself over the edge and had engaged in a mostly one-sided conversation with a barely conscious Rinoa.

"Hey. Hey-hey, wake up," Jacob said, patting her cheek several times rapidly.

"...... Don't........ don't do that......." Rinoa muttered, her eyes fluttering open.

"Rise and shine," Jacob said. "You feeling okay?"

Rinoa squinted as the sunlight bore down into her eyes. "...... Where-?"

"Outside of Radiant Garden. You, Sora, Kairi, and... well, someone you don't know were abducted by Stormtroopers."

"......... W.... Why....?"

"Most likely trying to get you off world before you got blown up by the Death Star. Wanted to make sure that a former Sorceress didn't get destroyed by the collateral damage they were dealing to the Rebellion. You and those three, too."

Rinoa, still squinting, glanced at the bodies of Kairi, Sora, who were across from her, and then Terra, who was next to her. "... Is Kairi-?"

"She's fine," Jacob said. "She's just unconscious."

".... My chest hurts....."

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "Hurts?"

"Two points. Stings. Two little spots. Like pins."

"Can I take off your sweater?"

"It's hot out here anyway."

Jacob quickly helped her take off her sweater vest and then she rolled up the lower half of the white shirt she wore below it, revealing two small bandaids.

"They shot you?"

"....... Don't remember......"

"Probably tranquilizer darts. Stun blasts don't leave wounds."

Suddenly, a switch seemed to go off it Rinoa's brain, as though she had just now woken up. "Oh my God! Kairi! Is she-?!?"

"Hey, calm down!" Jacob said, stopping her as she suddenly tried to get up. "Kairi's fine."

"Those Stormtroopers tried to stick some sort of needle into my neck, they could have done that to her!"

Jacob looked around at Kairi, looked back at Rinoa, said a quick "Stay put," and then turned around to address Kairi. He took her limp form and turned her around a bit and saw that there was a small, skin colored bandaid over a spot directly above one of her blood veins. "Looks like that's how they got her."

"Oh my GOD!!! Jacob, what if they-?!?!?"

"She's not poisoned!" Jacob yelled at her, causing her to instantly silence herself. "You seem to forget she has a lot more value than just being your sister!"

Rinoa glared at him for a moment before she remembered that he was right. She always forgot that Kairi was a Princess of Heart, not just her little sister.

Then again, they hadn't seen each other in a long time.

"I... I just-"

"She's fine," Jacob insisted, his tone bordering on a growl. "I'm fine two, thanks for asking."

Rinoa just then noticed the sweat and dirt gracing Jacob's appearance. "... What did you do?"

"_We_. What did _we_ do."

Rinoa glanced over her shoulder to see Zidane and Stitch standing idly by, listening in on their conversation.

"We only ran through the city, killed a bunch of Stormtroopers, and jumped off a wall. Well, actually, Jacob and Stitch here were the only ones who jumped the wall. I went and stole this pickup truck while Jacob dangled from a rope hanging from a ship flying at really really fast speeds."

Rinoa looked back at Jacob. "You did _what_?"

"That's right, no one cares about the kid who stole the pickup truck," Zidane muttered, scratching the back of his head.

Rinoa decided that the explanations could be fleshed out later on. She glanced to her right at Terra.

".... Who's-?"

"Terra. I've reason to believe she's an Esper."

Rinoa looked at him for a moment before she shook her head and tried to open here eyes wider. "... An.... an Esper? Why do you think that?"

Jacob bit his lip. "Er.... Some Stormtroopers shot at me and her and they called her an Esper. That, and she can use big-ass amped up spells without any hassle."

Rinoa looked skeptical. "What has she told you about herself?"

"............. She's..... uh, got amnesia."

"That's helpful."

"Yeah, well, the Empire seemed to think she was important enough to try and get off world, so I'd say I just did something good here. But nothing I ever did was good enough, was it?"

Zidane and Stitch both seemed to recognize Jacob's rising tone as an indicator that it was time for them to get back into the car and turned on the engine so that they couldn't hear what he was saying.

As soon as they had done that and were once again driving towards Radiant Garden's wall, Jacob said, "Look, I have a job to do. Actually, I have a lot of jobs to do. And if you're going to keep holding a damn grudge just because I got dropped into your life when you least expected it you had better suck it up because I'm not going anywhere."

Rinoa hesitated. "Jacob, it's not that I-"

"Then just what the hell is it, huh?"

She brushed some hair out of her eyes and looked up at him. "You're right, I forget that Kairi's important sometimes, and that she's not just my little sister. But I think sometimes you forget that she's my little sister, not just a Princess of Heart."

Jacob sighed and plopped down next to her. "How many times are we going to have this conversation?"

"Until I pound it into your thick skull," Rinoa said, letting a small smile grace her features as she bonked his cranium.

The sun suddenly hit the horizon, casting the world into the orangish glow that was twilight.

"....."

"..... Look, I know you're just trying to protect her, but I can remember a time when she and I were like sisters to you, not charges."

"..... Things change."

Rinoa sighed. "It doesn't have to be like that."

"She's not coming back, Rinoa. You know that."

"... But.... she said that the emotions came back-"

"Yeah, and she's got feelings for Sora too, and she's going to keep following him around if she realizes she loves him or not."

Rinoa looked across at the two of them and saw that, somehow, even in their unconsciousness, they had taken each other's hands.

"Besides, Kairi might not be a Princess of Heart much longer."

Rinoa looked at him, shocked. "What?!?"

"... If she doesn't come to terms with how she feels about Sora, the Light in her Heart is going to feel like it's keeping a 'dirty little secret' if you will. Princesses of Heart don't keep dirty little secrets."

Rinoa looked back at them. "So... what do we do?"

"I've already told King Mickey that I have a plan."

"... And what is that?"

"..... I've been brewing some love potion."

Rinoa waited for the punch line, and when one didn't come, she laughed. "Really? That's your idea of playing matchmaker? I thought you said they were already in love."

"But they're to embarrassed to ask if the other one feels the same way. Love Potion would drive them over the edge, if you will."

"... But wouldn't synthetically created love drive of the Light as well?"

"........ Uh...... that's a possibility... but kinda a risk worth taking... and we really don't have much of a choice."

"You could just play... you know, normal matchmaker."

"You know I suck at that kind of stuff."

"Oh, come on," Rinoa giggled. "Catch them under the moon light... sing a little song..."

"I'm not singing to anyone," Jacob said in an annoyed way.

Rinoa made a fake pouty face. "Really? But I bet your voice is all deep and stuff now-"

"No."

"Sing for me now. While they're out."

"......."

"That's an order."

".... Fine."

Jacob took a deep breath, and began.

**Somewhere...**

Cloud removed the last of the splinters that he could reach and placed it into the trash can. He glanced at her body. There were several more that were visible, but they were too deep for him to reach. If she soaked in warm salt water, the skin would moisten and the splinters might rise to the surface...

"C.... Cloud.....?......"

"............ Yeah, Tifa."

"W... Where.. are we?"

"Seventh Heaven."

".. Seventh..... But..... the plate...."

"I rebuilt it. Besides, we aren't in Midgar right now."

".... Radiant Garden?"

"No. We're on the same world as Midgar. Just a different city. It's called Edge."

"Edge?"

"Built of parts scavenged from the ruins of Midgar."

"Ugh.... I've missed a lot..."

Tifa started to sit up, but Cloud gently pushed her back down. "You're still covered in splinters. It's gonna take a while to get them out."

Tifa arched an eyebrow at him skeptically. "I didn't know you cared."

"O-of course I do-"

"You wouldn't think it, the way you ditched us right after you saw Midgar was destroyed."

"I knew Sephiroth was still alive. If I had let him go-"

"You could have let me come with you!!" Tifa suddenly yelled, abruptly sitting up. This was quickly followed by a sudden cry of pain as the yet to be removed splinters stabbed at different parts of her body. Cloud shoved her down again.

"I couldn't. It wasn't your fight."

"Cloud, I don't need your protection!"

"..... I never said you did."

"Then why are you always so insistent on treating me like a child?!?"

"... If I hadn't been there, you would have died. In that explosion."

"And that's another thing," Tifa started again. "What were you doing in Radiant Garden?"

"....."

"You were following me, weren't you? So suddenly I'm more important than chasing after your damn Sephiroth?"

Cloud bowed his head and turned away from her, placing his hands to his face.

"Tifa, I haven't seen Sephiroth in months."

Tifa suddenly seemed to change her entire persona. So... _he_ was the one who had been following _her_... but... in a protective way?

"...... No, Cloud, that's not what I meant. I'm sorry, I lost control of myself."

"No. You have every right to be angry with me. I've... I've been avoiding you. And you knew it."

"Why?"

"......"

"Cloud..."

"I've been busy."

"With what?"

"Raising two kids."

Tifa's eyes widened. "What? What have you been doing? Who have you been-"

For once, Cloud actually... laughed. "No, Tifa, it's not like that." He turned to her again. "One of them is Marline."

That calmed Tifa down a lot. "Oh... good. I MEAN!!!....... Good... for you... doing stuff... like that... yeah. Doing stuff for Barrett."

_"Not with other women,"_ she thought. "How is he anyway? Barrett?"

"Busy. Looking for alternate power sources."

"Any luck?"

"He's been focusing on oil for a while now. I've been watching Marline while he goes globe-trotting."

"... And the other kid?"

"Denzel. Orphan. His parents were killed in the Sector 7 incident. He's eight years old."

"Oh..."

_"Did he take him in because he felt like he was responsible?"_

"And no, there aren't any other women here unless they're here for a drink."

"Cloud! I don't-"

"Whatever. It's only been about eight hours since I got you at Radiant Garden."

"And you're still picking stuff out of me? Wow Cloud, you'd make a really poor woodworker."

"That's why I'm a soldier. Besides, some of the splinters were in..." he looked slightly awkward. "... Places."

"What do you mean- Oh... well, I'm glad to know there aren't any other women in your life."

"Tifa, you'd be covered in splinters if I hadn't."

"That doesn't change a thing."

"No, it doesn't."

_"Of course." _She thought_. "He doesn't want to be tied down. Forget it Tifa, you need to start looking for new men."_

"Now I need you to take a bath."

"A _bath_?"

"A warm, salt-water bath. It'll help with the wounds and move splinters closer to the surface."

"And the band-aids I'm covered with?"

"I was gonna dunk you in anyway. They're temporary. Dissolve into a thousand tiny pieces when they touch water."

"Sounds interesting."

"Okay, I'm gonna try and lift you up. Then after you soak for a few hours I can continue with the removal of the splinters."

"And how am I going to get dressed and undressed?"

"... Am I allowed to-?"

"You've done it before, just do it again."

"....... In a medical way only. Not a... any other kind of way."

"Understood."

**Back on Radiant Garden...**

The entire base and gone on high alert, and the entire place had been locked down as soon as Squall contacted Dr. Cid on his radio. So far two Stormtroopers had been apprehended, as well as the wounded one Squall had been supporting, and another whom a young girl had found. She had been placed in therapy; apparently she had undergone some sort of ordeal that she couldn't convey to anyone without suddenly bursting out into tears. One of the few things she had been able to say clearly was that a wounded Stormtrooper had defended her from his squad mates and that he shouldn't be harmed, but helped. However, with her sanity in question, no one was ready to trust the soldier who called himself Fox.

Sora and Kairi woke up shortly after some Rebellion forces moved the group up and onto the wall before escorting them back to the base. The streets of the city, which had been dead not less than an hour ago, were now flooded with people celebrating the fact that their home hadn't gotten blown up. It took them almost half an hour just to get the length of two and a half football fields back to the nearest entrance of the base, Zidane pulling a few picks on the way there, which Jacob, who was holding Terra, always seemed to spot and yell at Zidane to return whatever it was he had nicked.

By the time they actually got back inside the base, things were in full swing there, too. The group soon learned that their fine friend Luke had been the one who delivered the final shot to destroy the Death Star, and Han Solo had made a surprise reappearance to save Luke's life.

"Hey kids, how you doing?" Sora and Kairi had heard him say, but before they could even turn around he had been swept away by the crowd that was praising the heroes.

They continued to battle their way through the crowds before they were intercepted by Squall, who quickly instructed them to follow him. They slipped off into a back hallway and moved through a less crowded route towards the command center. "Dr. Cid wanted to talk with all of you," Squall reported. "He also wants all of you to report to a medical ward eminently."

"What?!?" Kairi had asked, outraged. She had already spent most of the morning there. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"They could have done anything to you guys, Kairi," Jacob said. "It's kinda needed."

She looked back at him and asked as they walked, "So what's so special about her?"

She was referring to Terra. Of course, she had seen her before when Jacob had brought her into the medical ward where she had been left after Space Paranoids.

"We're not quite sure yet," Jacob replied, looking down at the girl in his arms. "Still trying to work that one out."

"..... Did they hit her with something with more... whatever than they hit us with?" Sora asked.

"No. She woke up before any of you guys. But she magiced the crap out of the bad guy's ship and, inadvertently, herself."

"Magic?"

"... Let's just say she's a lot better at it than anyone else you know could ever hope to be." Jacob thought about that for a moment. "No, I forgot Yen Sid. They'd be an even match, I suppose."

"I'd love to ask more questions, but I'd probably just wind up confusing myself," Sora said. "So forget it."

"Glad to."

Squall rolled his eyes.

**Three days later...**

"This young woman," Dr. Cid said. "Is the reason you aren't in the hands of the Empire as we speak."

Sora, Kairi, Terra, and Rinoa stood before Dr. Cid in a small conference room. Cid was accompanied by a young blond girl by the name of Emily, who had apparently been the one to turn on the anti-aircraft guns that slowed the Stormtrooper's escape enough for Jacob to rescue them.

Speaking of Jacob, no one had seen him in three days, since the had left the four in a medical ward.

"I'm sick of all this hero work," he had said. "I'm going to my room on the Shera (which was parked inside a large hanger) and eating ice-cream till I knock myself out."

"He's serious, too," Rinoa had told them as he walked out. "Biggest chocolate ice-cream junky _ever_."

Sora wasn't sure he wanted to know the story behind that one.

Emily's head was bowed and she hadn't made eye contact with anyone in the room, almost as though she was embarrassed. Sora had caught a few glimpses of emerald green below her blond bangs, but no more than that.

"She fortunately acted fast enough to enter the main computer system and reactivate the anti-aircraft artillery guns."

Dr. Cid seemed to have run out of things to say. His eyes flashed a bit as though he was trying to think of something else, but Sora butted in. "Can she speak?"

Dr. Cid arched an eyebrow. "... Yes."

"Then why does she need you to commentate for her?"

Cid tried to conceal the sudden look of surprise at Sora's boldness. Emily actually looked up in an almost curious way. Kairi gave Sora a look as well, but she was behind him and he didn't see it.

".... Very well," Dr. Cid said before gathering what composure he could and exiting.

Sora didn't spare a moment approaching the girl. "Hey," he said simply. "You okay?"

She looked into his eyes for a moment, then nodded slowly. "..... I.... I guess..."

Sora gave a sort of uncharacteristic chuckle. "No reason to be embarrassed."

"I- I'm not!" she suddenly insisted. "I'm just..... I kinda... just..."

Sora noticed the large medical tape wrapped over her forehead, mostly concealed by her bangs. "Did you get hurt?"

".... Not too bad," she said, involuntarily reaching up and touching the bandaid as though she would somehow cover it. "Some of the soldiers just.... roughhoused me a bit."

".... Thanks again. For doing... whatever you did with the anti-aircraft system."

"I didn't even know what was going to happen," she replied. "I just.... acted instinctually, I suppose."

"Sometimes that's the best thing," Sora said, giving her a reassuring smile. He turned around and gestured to his three companions. "Emily, meet Kairi, Terra, and Rinoa."

"... Hi," she said, somewhat timidly.

"Hi," Rinoa said, smiling warmly. "... And Sora's right, there's no need to be embarrassed."

".... I'm not. Really. I just...." She couldn't continue for whatever reason, but looked down and clutched her left arm with her right.

"We won't press," Kairi said. "If there's something you don't want to tell us, you don't have to."

Emily looked up at her and gave a very subtle, almost unnoticeable nod.

Sora looked at her again. "Do you want to go and get something to eat?"

She looked at him, almost as if surprised that someone as famous and powerful as Sora the Keyblade Master was inviting her to lunch with him. "... Uh..... I don't want to intrude-"

"You sound like a friend of mine," Sora said, thinking of Squall. "Come on, it'll be fun."

_"Fun?"_ The world drifted through her mind. _"_Sora_ wants to have _fun_...... you learn something new every day."_

"... Sure!"

**Shortly...**

Sora, Kairi, Emily, Rinoa, and Terra all sat with each other in the cafeteria, talking more than eating. The only exception was Terra, who wasn't saying a word and eating next to nothing. Sora, Kairi, and Rinoa had become used to her silence, and they had accepted it as a part of her persona, most likely caused by her amnesia.

They quickly discovered that Emily was a rather timid girl; if it was only because of her recent traumatic experience or if she had always been like that, time would tell. Still, Sora and Kairi's energy was contagious and they managed to cox her out of her shell and share a few laughs. They did most of the talking, but she seemed very than interested in what they had to say.

They just sat there and carried on like they had known each other for years before, after about thirty minutes, Cid Highwind came in.

"Tifa is still missing," he reported gravely.

"What?!?" was Rinoa's immediate reaction, Sora and Kairi's following shortly.

"They've torn the city apart, but nothing. They checked out the sight where she had last checked in after she set one of the charges, and there was no body in the rubble. But there were skid marks on the street nearby, so it's unlikely that the Empire took her."

Rinoa looked down at her food, her fork hanging limply from her fingers. "....... Nothing?"

"Ain't that what I said?"

"...... Thanks for keeping me in the loop, Cid."

"You'll know as soon as I do if she shows up," he said before turning and departing again.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Emily asked, "What's happened?"

"... Nothing. Just someone who disappeared during the fight initial ground fight," Rinoa said, suddenly and violently stabbing her fork into her food.

They sat in total silence for several more minutes before Sora found the strength to begin the conversation again, and after the first few awkward minutes, they were conversing again. Only this time Rinoa was being a lot less talkative and seemed much more interested in seeing how hard she could plunge her fork through her food.

By the time they had finished and were starting to get up, they received yet another surprise greeting as King Mickey, Jacob, and Princess Leia walked in.

"Cid said we could find you here," Mickey said.

"And he was right," Sora replied.

"We're going to stay a few more weeks," Jacob reported. "Just to make sure that reconstruction finishes without any hiccups."

"The Rebel Alliance will be staying to assist as well," Leia added.

"... Got any idea of where we're going afterwords?" Sora asked.

"A few ideas, actually," Jacob replied. "Then again, the Rebel Alliance was looking to recruit all of us into it's ranks. Apparently they could use a Keybearer and a makeshift band of shipmates."

"Not that you have to come," Leia said.

"Actually, the Empire is the only real enemy we've been going after this whole time," Sora said. "I'm sure I'll join. Can't speak for anyone else though."

"Take your time to think about it," Leia said. "We'll be leaving world in five weeks, and leaving a few troops behind to watch things. Just have your decision ready by then."

"I, personally, will be returning to Disney Castle to liberate it," Mickey said, referring to the world it's self, not just the Castle. "I'll be receiving assistance from the Rebel Alliance, but they won't be staying behind afterwords. Their forces are few, and Radiant Garden needs the defenses more than we do."

"Great," Sora said. "You wouldn't happen to know where Donald and Goofy are, would you?"

"I would indeed," Mickey replied. "But they are both absorbed in their duties. Goofy is with the Royal Knights, who are currently being trained in how to counter Imperial tactics and operate firearms.

"Donald," This time Jacob spoke, "is occupied in one of the bigger medical wards. He and some of the Rebel scientists are trying to help Aerith."

No one on who had been staying on the Shera throughout the adventure ever really forgot about Aerith, but only Merlin and Donald were with her frequently, trying to help her. They had pretty much given up hope for her, but it was everyone's hope that the Rebellion's superior technology would be able to help. Merlin personally didn't trust anything mechanical, but he had agreed to assist in whatever way he could, sci-fi wise or magic wise.

**On Radiant Garden, two weeks later... **

Sora was perched somewhat precariously on a cliff overlooking the Great Maw, observing as excavation teams tried to un-wedge Disney Castle. His legs were dangling over the edge, his hair flopping around in his face as the wind blew by.

"Hey."

He turned to see Jacob approaching. Sora had only caught brief glimpses of him here and there after he came into the cafeteria two weeks ago.

"Oh... hey," Sora said, looking back towards the Castle.

Jacob plopped down beside him, throwing his legs over the edge as well. "What're you thinking about?"

Sora didn't reply for a long time. They sat there, Jacob not interrupting as Sora pondered just what it was that he was thinking about.

"Jacob," he said after a while. "I... I think I'm finished trying to figure out everything that you're keeping from us. You're not going to let up, are you?"

Jacob showed a little smile and shook his head. "No."

Sora looked at him. "So... I'll ask a few questions and just hope that you'll answer."

"Go ahead."

"... Just... who is Noir? And what happened between you two?"

"Nothing. He was a bad dude and I had to take him out."

"I don't believe you."

Jacob gave a short laugh. "You shouldn't."

"... I'm not going to get anything else on this topic, am I?"

"No."

"... Now I know you're not going to answer this one, but... who was the girl with red hair? That you traveled with?"

Jacob didn't reply. His face didn't fall, he didn't stop smiling, and he didn't walk away. But his eyes... looked just a bit... sad.

"... A friend. One I'll never get back."

"Was she important?"

"In the big scheme of things? No."

"But... to you?"

Jacob stood up, heaving a sigh. Sora looked up at him. For a moment, he didn't see the Jacob he knew, but someone younger. Someone without the burden of secrets and pain holding him down.

Someone about to face hell.

He laughed. "She was something else, Sora. She was special."

"Did she die?"

"Don't know. I haven't seen her in... four years now? She might have for all I know."

Sora looked down for a second, glanced at Disney Castle, then back up at Jacob. "Is there anyone else? Special to you?"

Jacob shook his head, still smiling. "No one that's left. No one I can reach."

"No family?"

"Dead or lost. Lost to me, at least."

"You mean-?"

"Oh, some of them are still alive. But if I found them, they probably wouldn't even recognize me... and finding them is the hard part."

Sora sat there for a few more moments before he stood, facing Jacob. "What kind of world have you been living in?"

He laughed, looking out at he Maw. "I'd love to know that myself." He looked thoughtful. "Let's just say that... I've been playing the hero much longer than you."

"So are you a cameo from another act? Or the leading man?"

Jacob looked at Sora out the corner of his eye, a pondering look on his face, as though questioning if he had really heard Sora say something witty. Then he gave a little wave, and walked off.

"That, Sora," he said, the wind blowing his words through the air and back to the spiky-haired Keybearer. "Depends on your point of view."

Sora only looked after him as he walked away back to the city, and a single thought crossed his mind.

_"Something screwed him up bad."_

**Later...**

"We've got something."

Cid looked up from the rubble of the building which Tifa had last been placed near. The voice that had called belonged to a Rebellion trooper, one of about five who were trying to pick up any leads toward's Tifa's whereabouts.

"What?" Cid spat as two of the soldiers walked up to him.

"We found tire tracks identical to these a short distance away," the soldier said. "But there's a twist."

"I'm on the edge of my seat," Cid sneered.

"The tracks are in a tight alley. From the look of the marks, someone parked looking into the alley. They sped up an extremely high rate. The marks continue for several meters before they stop."

"..... And?" Cid asked in an annoyed tone.

"That's the thing. They don't fade out. They just stop. Like the bike was plucked up off the ground."

Cid arched an eyebrow. "Show me."

**Shortly...**

After a quick jog to a few blocks away, they showed him into the alley.

Cid walked up and down the line over and over, slowly and carefully looking over everything; the walls, the dirt, the trash in the dumpster, and also the smell.

_"The smell..."_

"Get this dumpster out of here," Cid ordered abruptly. The soldiers looked at him questioningly, but did as he said and pushed the dumpster out of the alley.

He waited for a few moments before he gave the air a long, drawn out sniff.

_"Oil. Ain't no oil on Radiant Garden."_

He went back to the beginning of the trail. Sure enough, there were small little discolored spots on the road showing where oil had dripped from the exhaust pipe of a motorcycle.

_"Cloud."_

**A few hours later...**

Jacob had abruptly announced that they were all leaving for a new world. He had also said that Tifa was most likely there.

Upon hearing that, everyone hurried to get ready. Most everyone had left their things on the Shera anyway, however, so there wasn't much packing to be done.

Everyone that had been aboard the Shera before was going, but this time they were joined by Rinoa and Terra. Irvine had opted to stay behind, as he had made friends with a few of the soldiers that had been with the Resistance. They contemplated about taking Aerith with them again, but they decided to leave her in the hands of the Rebellion medics.

At around ten o'clock at night, everyone was ready to depart. Squall was the last to arrive at the hanger, as he had been occupied by a meeting with Dr. Cid and King Mickey.

Everyone got on board, but Sora and Kairi had to say a quick good-bye first.

"We'll be back before you know it," Sora had insisted.

"Yeah, really," Kairi came in. "This shouldn't take more than a few days."

"I know," Emily replied. "Just..... be safe."

Emily had really grown on them over the past two weeks, and even for Sora and Kairi, who both made friends very easily, they connected with her in such a special way that it was almost as if she was joining the triangle that was Sora, Kairi, and Riku.

Riku......

Sora did his best not to think about his friend. He kept telling himself that he'd show up again like he had already done twice, but..... something just felt.... different about it this time.

No matter. Sora and Kairi wrapped up with Emily and quickly boarded the ship, which took off less than a minute later.

**Several hours later, on the Shera...**

"Cid, you sure you know where you're going?" Squall asked.

"Ain't young people got any patience these days?" Cid snapped angrily. "Yes I know where I'm going! Hell, I didn't spend a good nine years of my life there for nothing!"

The two continued their argument for a few minutes before Squall departed with a somewhat frustrated sounding huff. Quickly after, Cid seemed to come up with another insult and put the ship on autopilot, chasing after Squall.

Only then did Kairi enter and step out onto the clear deck, watching as the stars whizzed by the ship as they hurtled through space. She leaned against the window in an almost tired way.

"Hey."

Kairi whipped around to see Sora enter. "Oh.... hey."

"I was looking for you," Sora said.

"Oh... you were?" Kairi asked as he began approaching her. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine," Sora said as he stepped onto the clear deck and approached her. "I just thought you might want this." He reached into his pocket and pulled out her lucky charm.

"Huh?" she asked. She reached into her pocket, as if to confirm that she was not in possession of the item. "How did you-?"

"The doctors on Radiant Garden took it when you were being checked over," Sora said. "Jacob got it, and handed it over to me, to give to you."

"Uh... how kind of him," Kairi said, reaching out to take the charm. Sora placed it in her hand and withdrew.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked.

Kairi turned her back to him and looked back out at space. "... I don't know. I just... well, the whole time we've been on this ship, I don't think I've taken the time to just admire space. This window is amazing for that sort of thing."

"That's all?" Sora asked. She nodded. "Nothing on your mind?" There were a few moments of delay, but she nodded. "You never were good at lying, Kairi."

She didn't turn for a few moments, but when she did, she was smiling. "And you always were good at reading me, Sora."

"So what's on your mind?"

She smiled even broader. "I've got a sister, Sora. I found someone from my family! And it's amazing! It's like... every second I spend with her, I'm just.... feeling it. Like I've always known her. It's unbelievable!"

Somehow during the two weeks before, they had never really come to the topic of Rinoa. Sora had respected her privacy enough not to ask anything, but apparently Kairi was ready to let it out. She spun around in a somewhat childish manner, releasing a joyful laugh. "It's amazing!" She spun into Sora, who caught her in his arms. She looked into his eyes. "It's the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me. I just feel... lighter."

Sora smiled too. "... I'm happy for you. I really am."

Kairi suddenly and without warning drew him in and hugged him. "I... I know you are. It's great. Having a friend like you. You do so much for me..."

Sora almost told her that it was Jacob who instructed him to tell Rinoa to reveal her identity, but he suddenly felt that if he did that, Kairi would let go of him, and if she did that, the entire universe would inevitably explode.

_"Uh... what?"_ Sora suddenly thought. _"No it won't. Duh. She's just hugging me. Friend style. That's all."_

Kairi relinquished him and showed a brief look of confusion, almost as if she had just had similar thoughts as Sora. She shook it off and gave a curt little nod of her head. "... Thanks."

".... Any time, Kairi."

Kairi looked at him for a few more moments, almost as if expecting him to leave. But not wanting him to, of course.

Sora looked at her as if expecting her to dismiss him. But not wanting her to, of course.

There was a bit of a communication barrier.

"Er..... wanna.... walk around?" Sora asked.

".... Sure?"

And the two turned and, very awkwardly, left the deck and went off into the inner reaches of the ship.

They didn't exchange a word until, suddenly, they heard a voice.

_"... Ain't no sunshine when she's gone."_

Suddenly, a chord was struck as someone began to play guitar. _"It's not warm when she's away...... Ain't no sunshine when she's gone! And she's always gone to long. Anytime she goes away....."_

"Who is that?" Sora asked as they halted their movements.

"..... Jacob?" Kairi suggested. His was the nearest room.

_"Wonder this time where she's gone..... wonder if she's gone to stay..... But there ain't no sunshine when she's gone! And this house just ain't no home. Anytime... she goes away."_

_"Well, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know...."_

Jacob and Kairi moved towards the source of the sound and saw that Jacob's door was barely cracked open. As they got closer, the peaked inside to see that Jacob was sitting on the edge of his bed, holding a guitar and chanting the words over and over again.

_"I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know- Oh, leave the young thing alone! But ain't no sunshine when she's gone!"_

_"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone..... Only Darkness every day....... Well, ain't no sunshine when she's gone! And this house just ain't no home. Any time... she goes away. Any time... she goes away. Any time........ she goes.... awaaaaayyyyyyyy."_

And with that, Jacob stopped, placed his guitar on the bed next to him, and glared down at it as what might have been tears accumulated on the bottom rims of his eyelids.

"Holy......" Sora muttered as Jacob grabbed a bottle of water off his bed side table and wet his mouth. "Did you know he could do that?"

"No....." Kairi whispered back. "I didn't even recognize his voice at first."

Jacob placed the water back down and, looked down at the guitar, as though wondering what he should sing next.

"Do you think he used to sing?"

"......"

"Kairi?.... Kairi?"

"Huh? What?"

Sora raised an eyebrow. "You zoned out there for a second."

".... He did sing...."

"What?"

Kairi grabbed his hand and dragged him away from the door and off down the hall. As soon as she was sure they were totally out of reach, she reported, "More memories."

Sora's eyes widened. "What? Just... from that?"

"Yes... I suppose," Kairi said. Here eyes glossed over as she stared past Sora at something that wasn't there. "He was great. He.... he _is _great. Except he didn't sound so...... sad. Back then."

Sora didn't interrupt as she continued to look on, as though watching something. "You... you didn't black out this time."

"..... It isn't really memories. It's just.... the music." She looked at him, her eyes focusing in. "_His_ music."

"Learn something new every day," Sora said, chuckling awkwardly.

"........" Kairi couldn't help but fade out of reality for a moment and fall back into the suddenly familiar yet foreign tunes that had filled her head. "..... He's.... so different now......"

"......"

"Sora?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you know? About the memories? Or anything? Do you know anything?"

Sora smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Er... don't know if I'm allowed to... uh, disclose that information."

"Sora..." she said, in a tone that bordered on angry. For her, at least.

"....... When I was talking with Rinoa," Sora began. "You know, in her bathroom. She said that.... You remember that Noir creep from that one dream? He's after you for some reason. And there's some sort of seal on your mind. It's what's.... blocking the memories. Different things... chip away at it. Like finding out that you know people from the past. And as the seal weakens, your mind becomes more... open. Weak. Easy target. All kinds of bad stuff."

Kairi didn't reply.

".... Kairi, what are you thinking about?"

"..... If simple things like Jacob singing will trigger it....."

"Hey! Did you miss the whole thing about weakening the mind? Rinoa said that the Noir dude could freaking possess you. That's not good, last time I checked. If I were you, I'd be doing everything in my power to make sure I _don't _remember anything."

"... You don't get it," Kairi said. "..... I.... I feel like I'm... putting something together."

"Putting what together?"

".... I don't know. But......" She glanced off down the hall in the direction of Jacob's room. "... Something messed him up. And I've gotten some memories that weren't mine. I'm just receiving them willy-nilly. No rhyme or reason. And the more I remember, the more chance I have of figuring out what's wrong with Jacob."

"Kairi, I'm pretty sure there's lots of things wrong with Jacob," Sora said. "He looked like he was on the verge of tears near the end of that song. And he was the one singing it. People don't sing to make themselves sad. They might sing sad songs and stuff, but no one does it to make themselves feel worse about... whatever."

"....... Maybe he's feeling guilty about something."

"What?"

Kairi sighed at Sora's naivety. "You know.... something could have happened and he's blaming himself for it. Doing stuff like that... singing.... might help him... you know, not forget."

"Kairi, if something that bad happened to me, I'd want nothing more than to forget," Sora said. "Something's wrong with him. Really. His brain or his Heart or something isn't wired properly."

Kairi looked up at him. ".... I want to help him."

"Less than five weeks ago you hated the thought of a body guard following you around and trying to protect you."

The realization that so much had happened since they first left Destiny Islands such a short time ago that she had to take a few seconds to recuperate from the realization. "..... A lot's changed since then."

Sora shook his head. "Can't argue with that...."

"You can't change my mind, Sora. I'm going to do everything in my power to break this 'seal' thing you were talking about."

Sora frowned. "You can be really stupid some times. You know that, right?"

Kairi only nodded. "....... Don't try and stop me, Sora."

He waited for a moment before he said, "You're right about one thing; he needs help, all right."

**A few hours later...**

The Shera jerked out of warp drive and slowed to a normal speed. A large world loomed in front of the craft, large chunks of which looked as if all the life had been violently sucked out of them. Huge planes of grey stretched out over entire continents, while other areas were green as a forest.

"Never thought I was come'n back here..." Cid muttered, the cigar in his mouth, unlit, bouncing up and down.

"Looks like an eco-disaster," Max muttered, looking down through the window as the ship got closer and closer to the atmosphere. Goofy, who was standing next to him, nodded in agreement.

"Uh, son, what's an eco-disaster?" he whispered.

"... It's.... Dark..." was all Terra had to say.

"Really, Cid, how did you live on such a ruined world?" Merlin asked, combing his fingers through his beard.

"There's some places that ain't as bad as others," Cid answered.

"Still looks like crap," Sora said.

"Will ya'll shut up?!? Yes, it looks like a load of shit, we got that!!"

Jacob smiled a bit at Cid's antics before looking over at Sora and Kairi, who were up against the glass window, looking down like two curious children. "You guys want to go down?"

"What the hell are you talking about, kid?" Cid asked. "We all going down, fool!"

Jacob looked up at him skeptically. "But-"

"No buts! My damn world, my damn rules! Now shut up!"

"Things can change in two years," Jacob said, shrugging. "You don't know what the situation is down there."

"......." Cid almost looked like he was thinking for a moment before he yelled, "I got an airship and a crew of warriors! Ain't nothing down there that's a threat to us!" Everyone on deck was so amazed by the fact that his cigar still hadn't fallen out of his mouth that they missed Cid actually complimenting them. In a very Cid way.

"Whatever you say," Jacob said. "But it's a big world, we should probably split up."

"No way!" Cid shouted. "Walking ain't gonna get you nowhere! We need my ship!"

"Wow, don't get so defensive," Sora said. "Fine, your world, your rules. You know this place best, you lead the way."

Everyone eyed Sora like he was totally out of line, then they remembered that he was the Keyblade Master and that his opinion probably mattered more than anyone's.

Of course, the Keybearer's opinion wasn't going to change fate.

Suddenly and without warning, four huge pillars of Darkness shot up from the surface of the world, so precise that they flew directly into five specific people; Sora, Kairi, Rinoa, and Max.

The pillars retreated as quickly as they had appeared, leaving only Jacob, Cid, Squall, Goofy, Donald, Terra and Merlin on the deck. For whatever reason, the Darkness hadn't done any damage of any kind to the ship.

"WHAT THE (R-Rated)?!?!?!?!" Cid screamed, grabbing the steering controls and swerving as though expecting another attack. Instead, none came, and he was left doing donuts in space for seemingly on reason.

"Cid!! Stop these flight patterns imminently!" Merlin exclaimed as he was thrown onto the ground by the pilot's forcefulness.

Donald released a loud, long angry quacking sound, his face flushing red as his small body was bumped about by Goofy's much larger one, who was loosing his balance with every single slightest movement of the ship.

"Cid!!!" Squall yelled as well. "Stop it!!!"

Cid hit the breaks so fast and hard that everyone excluding the Cid was thrown into the air. Jacob landed on his tailbone hard, but didn't break it. He turned over and looked down out the glass window, but the Darkness had already disappeared into the world.

"Damn it," Jacob muttered, getting up. "They could be anywhere down there...."

**Below...**

Sora lifted his head. He was laying in something wet and dirty.

In other words, a puddle.

His clothes were sticking to his body, and his hair was actually close to flat from the moisture weighing it down.

He looked around. A small alley contained him, with clouded out sunlight casting a pale gray light over everything.

He got to his feet and looked at the ground behind him. Kairi was unconscious on her back, water from what looked like a broken fire hydrant slowly trickling down onto the ground around her, soaking her through her clothes.

He got down and carefully lifted her enough to get her out of the water and place her against the wall, where things were a lot dryer.

"Kairi?" he asked nervously, slapping her cheeks. "Kairi, wake up." He reached for her neck to check for a pulse. It was unusually slow, but a pulse just the same.

"Kairi, wake up and get that Heart pumping..." Sora insisted. ".... Kairi?"

He just sat there for a few minutes, but she didn't wake, though her pulse remained steady. Sora got up and walked to the edge of the alley and looked out.

It was a street. Full of people, and lined with buildings that looked like they had all been thrown together Helter Skelter out of scrap metal. The only decent looking building was one just a bit down the street; a bar with a sign that read 'Seventh Heaven'.

Sora was surprised to see a small girl with a bow in her hair looking out a window on the top floor, but she turned away before he could get a good look at her features. He glanced around at the other people in the street; there were a lot of kids, but apparently scarce few parents.

Sora looked back at the bar again, not quite sure why, and saw that another person was in the window.

_"... Tifa?"_

Sora ran back into the alley. Kairi still hadn't moved. Sora said her name a few more times but when she didn't respond, he simply swung her over his back and started off. He walked out into the street, where, oddly enough, no one seemed to even notice the fact that a boy was carrying an unconscious girl. If anything, they stood out because of Kairi's bright pink attire, which directly contrasted the blank grayness of everything around them.

Sora came up to the door of the bar and read the sign 'Sorry, we're closed', ignored it, and kicked the door in a 'knock-knock' manner.

Tifa he waited and hit the door again, this time hearing a small, female voice tell him, "The sign says we're closed!"

Sora was hesitant, but said, "I don't want a drink, I'm here to see Tifa!"

There was a long pause before the voice came back. "To whom am I speaking?"

Sora thought about if this was a good idea or not for a few seconds before he said, "My name is Sora, and I'm a friend of Tifa's. I need to come in."

There was the quick sound of shuffling feet before that faded away. Sora waited for a few more moments before louder, heavier footsteps came towards the door. The click of a lock was heard before it swung open, revealing Tifa, her hair tied back in a pony tail, and wearing a plain white t-shirt and blue jeans.

"Sora? Kairi? What... what are you-?"

"I'll explain in a minute," Sora cut her off. "Please just let me in."

She nodded and stepped aside for him to enter, shutting the door behind him.

**Elsewhere...**

Rinoa and Max had awoken on the top, unfinished floor of a huge under construction building, with no way of getting down until the workers were to return at whatever time they were going to return.

Rinoa had taken to pacing about while Max sat on the edge of the building, feet dangling, observing the vast city-scape that stretched out before them, as well as what looked like an older city that had been crushed by some massive object. Eventually he moved to the other side of the building and looked over that edge towards the outside of town, and at the rocky cliffs that lined the desolate, desert resembling area just outside of the city.

**Meanwhile, out on the same cliffs...**

A massive black motorcycle was parked near the edge of one of the cliffs. A lone rider dressed in matching black looked quickly at what might have been a massive sword stabbed into the jagged rocks before reaching into a pocket and withdrawing a cell phone.

He opened a menu and looked at a list of missed calls and selected the first one.

"... Hey Cloud. It's Tifa. Sora and Kairi... they're here. Sora really wants to see you. Please call back."

He looked at the caller ids on the other missed calls and ignored them - for now. He put the phone away and, taking another look at the sword, pulled goggles over his face and started his engine. He pulled out a scrap of paper and checked the address written on it even though he had memorized it by now, put it away, and hit the gas.

His bike roared to life and cruised off across the desert, kicking up so much dust that it could have been seen from the city. He streaked off down the cliffs and onto level ground, but continued to drive away from the city and off in a different direction.

Had he lingered on the cliffs, he would have been joined by three newcomers, also mounted on bikes, though not nearly as sleek and well put together as his. The three riders pulled up the the cliff, one of them accidentally hitting the sword. The rider kicked it away and disengaged the engine.

The three riders, all in tight black suits, gazed down at the vast expanse of land before them and found the other rider with ease, his dust trail twenty feet high.

"There he is," said the rider on the left, who was tall, skinny, and sported extremely long, woman-like silver hair.

"Think he'll be happy to see us?" asked the one on the right, who was muscular had had a curled up greaser hair-do, also sliver.

"Probably not," said the one in the middle, who was of average build with silver hair that reached his neck.

"But, Kadaj," said the one on the left, referring to the middle. "Do you really think he has Mother with him?"

"Perhaps, Yazoo."

"But, if the man lied to us-"

"He didn't, Loz. He's nothing to gain from deceiving us."

"How knowledgeable of you, Kadaj."

The three looked behind them as a pillar of Darkness hit the ground and then retreated into the sky, leaving a young man dressed in a blood red robe in it's stead.

"Noir," Kadaj said with a smile. "How nice of you to join us."

"I was preoccupied," he stated simply, his eyes twinkling. "But I am now finished with previous tasks, and here I am before you."

"What, were you busy with your girlfriend?" Loz sneered.

Noir frowned at him. "You are childish for someone so powerful. I do not squander my time conversing with your kind."

"_Were_ you with Maleficent?" Kadaj asked, his curiosity risen by Loz's question.

"Yes," he answered. "She required my advice in her affairs."

"You truly consider her a valuable asset to your plans?" Yazoo questioned skeptically.

"She has powerful contacts," Noir answered. "And she is blind to all when the opportunity to gain power arrises. She is easily manipulated, and she easily manipulates. She is indeed a valuable asset."

"Hmm," Kadaj murmured, looking away. "If only Mother were present to assist you... she is surely much more powerful than that old hag."

"Everyone is strong in their own right," Noir pointed out. "But your Mother is indeed strong."

"And yet she trusts us with her work," Yazoo smirked, his right hand hovering over the pistol hanging from his belt. "An honor."

"Quite," Noir said, nodding to him.

"... So... that guy _does_ have Mother, right?" Loz asked, pointing down at the other rider.

Noir looked at him again. "Perhaps. Now don't speak again."

Kadaj repressed a chuckle and said, "Boys, why don't you leave Noir and I for a moment and go see if Mother is indeed in his possession?"

Yazoo and Loz looked at each other, grunted, started their engines, and drove straight off the cliff, landing on the jagged rocks like they were rolling hills of soft grass, and took off after Cloud Strife.

**Advent Children. If you hate the movie or not, that's what's happening next. Well, actually, that's not exactly what's happening next. The next chapter I'm putting up will be chapter 20: Battle of Naboo. If you still haven't read 'Politics Never Change', go back, read, and review, suckers! You're going to miss important stuff if you don't! Anyway, Battle of Naboo should be up in a week or two. But after that, we'll return to the present for chapter 32.**

**I don't own Kadaj, Loz, or Yazoo. I also don't own the girl in Tifa's window, whom most of you know is Marline. Also, since Cloud mentioned him at the beginning of the episode, I don't own Denzel, who will appear in chapter 32.**

**I also don't own the song 'Ain't No Sunshine' by Bill Withers. You can expect to hear more of Jacob's vocal choards in the future, but not for a while.**

**See you guys soon!**


	32. A City on the Edge

**Just a few quick notes:**

** One: During the time on the Shera, the characters talked. There have sometimes been more than ten hours of transition time, so of course the characters got to know each other. I just don't have enough time to show their conversations, and they would mostly be filler anyway. So you'll see some of the characters get kinda chummy here, and don't be shocked or anything.**

** Two: Though you've kinda figured it out by now, I just want to say it: Sora ain't a power house. Picture him... around level 60 in KH 2. Or something like that. He has a key, he can jump high, he shoots magic, he can take a bunch of hits, but he is not a super hero. So don't expect him to be, and don't think that I'm f-ing up the character.**

** Three: While Emily will not appear in this chapter, I made a few mistakes with her in the last two; I typoed so that chapter 30 said she had redish-orange hair, while chapter 31 says she's blond. Well, now, Lord Fortune says that she's a red-head! Yes, the natural red that we have in the real world, not 'Kairi dark-red'. **

** Four: This chapter wound up a lot longer that I thought it would be, so the thing that relates to chapter 20 won't come up here. Looks like you guys are in luck. I'm writing that next, though.**

** That's all. Moving on.**

** Chapter 32: A City on the Edge**

** In the wasteland outside the city...**

Cloud continued forward, somehow staying completely steady on the bumpy terrain. His spiky hair was flopping backward, but somehow not losing it's distinctive shape. Dirt flew into the air around him, but he ignored it even as small flecks of earth began to fleck his face.

No, he was much more concerned with the two hit-men that had appeared out of nowhere and were attempting to kill him.

The two black bikes came careening out of of the rock formations around him. He looked back at them just in time to see trails of Darkness launch from their vehicles, heading right for him. The Darkness solidified into huge, wolf resembling creatures, who didn't look like they were that happy to see Cloud. He hit a button right below the handle bars, and the sides of his bike folded out like wings, revealing a massive collection of swords. He released the steering controls, tightened his knees on the vehicle, and grabbed a sword in each hand. He jerked hard and swerved around, switching to reverse as the monsters leapt into the air at him.

He swung the blades through the air, and the monsters exploded into little whiffs of Darkness that drifted off into the sky.

Cloud didn't exactly have time to watch though, because two more were already charging towards him. He waited till the last moment before swerving his bike right into them, destroying them. He hit the gas harder and shot off through the desert, dust flying up behind him. The other two bikes swerved outside the smoke scree of sorts and accelerated after him.

Cloud squinted to see the terrain in front of him as he felt his body being pushed back by the speed he was traveling at. Over the roar of his engine, he heard a gunshot ring out through the air. The bullet bounced off of the bike, narrowly missing Cloud's head. He slammed on the breaks so hard that he was launched off the bike, flying forward. The other two didn't see him through the dust, and didn't stop until they were almost fifty meters ahead of him.

Cloud righted himself and quickly grabbed his two fallen blades off the ground and put them together to form one large sword. The two bikes swerved back around, and he one of them raise his firearm. Cloud swished his blade through the air, deflecting the bullet into the ground below him. The other rider drove directly toward Cloud, lowering one of his arms close to the ground. The mechanism on the man's arm drove into the ground, releasing a deadly shock wave. A huge wave of stone rose up and careened towards Cloud. He to the side and dove out of the way at the last second before he would have been crushed against the wave. He rolled and popped back up at the last second to swing his sword directly at the rider's head. The driver ducked and swerved away, hitting the brakes and drifting back in Cloud's direction. The rider's trail of dust concealed Cloud entirely from both of his opponents.

"Come on out, Brother!" Loz yelled, priming his weapon again.

"All we want is to be with Mother!" Yazoo added, spraying bullets into the cloud.

Far above them, in the rocks, Kadaj and Noir were observing the conflict.

"For one man, he sure can hold his own," Kadaj noted, smirking for some unknown reason.

"Quite," Noir said. "He is, perhaps, one of the most powerful warriors of this age."

"......"

"Something troubles you?" Noir asked.

"....... I.... I don't... feel her," Kadaj muttered. "Surely if we were this close she would call out to us."

"You've know way of know that," Noir said.

Kadaj didn't reply, but instead reached into his coat and withdrew a cell phone. He flipped it open and swiftly punched in a number. He held it up to his ear and waited for someone to pick up.

".... Yes, it's me. How nice of you to remember my number!..... No, we haven't managed to find her yet." He frowned. "But then again, you knew that, didn't you?........ Don't you tell me you're leading me on. Because I think you do have mother there!................."

Noir smirked and stepped to the edge of the cliff. He clenched his hand as though he were holding a sword. Moments later, in a flash of black, a black and brown lightning bolt of sorts was in his hands, cackling and twitching with energy. He rose his and up into the air, and hurled it down towards the dust Cloud had vanished into. He looked back at Kadaj, who was muttering angrily. "I don't want to talk to you anymore. Put the President on..."

The bolt hit the ground beneath the cloud of dust, dispelling it in a huge vortex of Darkness. The rocks and dirt were all sucked into the huge tornado of solid black as lightning rained down from space into it. Loz and Yazoo quickly drove their bikes behind the boulders around them and smiled as everything else was sucked into the giant whirlwind of doom.

After about two minutes, the tribulation vanished from existence, leaving behind a scared patch of ground where nothing else would ever exist.

Loz and Yazoo dismounted and leered at the resting place of Cloud Strife.

Meanwhile, a blond haired soldier was making good his escape on the other side of the desert, out of sight of even Kadaj and Noir.

**At the same time...**

Max and Rinoa stood and watched as the Dark vortex consumed everything around it.

"Holy crap...." Max muttered. "This world is trippn'."

"What's going on down there?" Rinoa asked. "First gunshots, now.... whatever that is..."

She suddenly noticed, up against the far side of the rock formations to the distance, a cloud of dust trailing a black bike...

"Whoever it was, he got away," Rinoa said, pointing.

Max followed her hand and saw the getaway. "Why's he going away from the city?"

"Don't know..." Rinoa said. She scanned the rocks, looking for... anything. It was way too far away for her to see anything, anyway...

Except for a blood red cloak, seeping with Darkness.

Rinoa's body seized. She jerked and went rigged as though someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water onto her. A voice that wasn't hers suddenly screamed, "NOIR!!!!!!!" violently. Max looked up at her to see here pupils dilate, and the thin ring in each eye turn red. Before he could say anything, huge silver wings burst through her clothes, ripping them to shreds. One of the wings slammed into Max's chest, nearly breaking every bone in he body and launching him through the air and over the edge of the building.

Rinoa's wings struck down with such force that she left a dent in the building, and she was launched into the air.

**Back in Seventh Heaven... **

Kairi was still out cold. Why, no one knew. Sora wanted to know how long he had been out, but there wasn't exactly anything to compare the time to.

Sora had filled his time sitting next to the bed they had placed Kairi in as he talked with Tifa and the two children who were staying with her and Cloud; Marline and Denzel. Apparently Marline was the daughter of an old friend and Cloud had been taking care of her for a while, and Denzel was an orphan whom Cloud came upon by chance on one of his many rides through the city.

Cloud had been running a bar during the weeks, hiring out short-term help every now and then. On weekends, he ran a program called the Strife Delivery Service, which had him riding who-knows-where and making another drive delivering something that he picked up at the first who-knows-where. After Tifa showed up, though, he had expanded his delivery service so that he ran during week days as well.

"I don't really mind the fact that I'm working in the bar," Tifa had admitted to Sora. They were well into the night and the other two had gone to bed. "It sort of served as a distraction."

Sora had already run her down on the events that had taken place after her rescue/abduction, and after he was done, he couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't Cloud bring you back? ... Or why did he take you off world in the first place?"

Tifa thought about it for a moment. "I... think he's trying to apologize," she said.

"Apologize?"

"... I'll explain it some other time."

Sora was going to ask another question, but he was cut short by a sudden yawn.

"Bed," Tifa suddenly said. "There's another room down the hall."

"No, I'm not tired," Sora said, though he was lying to himself.

"Yes, you are," she said. "You're getting up tomorrow and helping me in the bar, and I want you rested."

Sora smirked. "When did you become my mother?"

"Just go get some sleep," Tifa insisted. "I'll go try and make contact with the Shera again."

Sora shook his head. "First of all, don't waste your time. That communicator is busted for good, you're not going to get through to them."

Tifa had a small, handheld radio with her from the bomb mission on Radiant Garden, but it had been crushed by something. Cloud said that she had been thrown from his bike while they were leaving Radiant Garden.

"Second," he continued. "I'm not leaving Kairi."

"Sora, if she wakes up, I'll come and get you-"

"Staying," Sora said firmly.

Tifa opened her mouth to argue, but then closed it. She opened it again, but this time said, "Just don't be pissed off tomorrow when you've got work..." And with that, she stood and walked out the door. "Denzel, Marline, if you two aren't in bed when I open that door, you are in so much trouble..."

Sora couldn't help but laugh. The big bad Tifa that he had known... was now a house wife. Or something like that. Well, she did have a job, but that was beside the point.

_"Wonder if Cloud's changed a lot..."_

He looked down at Kairi again, checking for any signs of life.

None.

Tifa had gone out and bought some clothes for the two while their dirty, wet attire was being washed out and dried. Nothing fancy, just something to sleep in for the night. Sora had insisted that she didn't bother, but then she reminded him that it was more for herself than it was for them; she didn't want two teenagers running around in wet, dirty clothes.

Or their underwear, for that matter.

Suddenly, Sora noticed something that scared the living daylights out of him.

Kairi's eyes were moving under her eyelids.

_"She's dreaming."_

"Kairi," he said urgently, getting down low next to the side of the bed. "Kairi, wake up. Now." She didn't respond in any way. He grabbed her and shook her hard, desperate to wake her. "Kairi, come on... the dreams aren't safe, they're weakening your mind...... Kairi, wake up...."

He stopped shaking her momentarily to see if she would respond. Her eyes tightened, and her lips curled down in a frown. "No.... no, I don't......... want to..."

Sora couldn't tell if that was her response to him, or her response to a dream, and he frankly didn't care. "Kairi, you have got to wake up _now_," he insisted direly, starting to shake her again. "Come back."

She moaned, and her arms lifted weakly and tried to bat his away. "..... No... Can't come back... I've..... I've.... got to...... He's in trouble......"

Sora suddenly stopped, his curiosity getting the better of him. "Who's in trouble?"

"............."

"Kairi, who's in trouble?"

"............"

Back to plan A.

He shook her again, this time much harder than he had done before. Though it wasn't really necessary.

Suddenly, Kairi sat bolt upright, sending Sora flying back. Her eyes shot open, and she let out an blood curling scream.

**Before, in Kairi's mind...**

_Kairi watched in horror from the sofa as Jacob collapsed onto the floor in a coughing fit. Rinoa was at his side, trying to hold is trembling body stable._

_ "Kairi!" she yelled. "Go and get Ansem! He can help!"_

_ She hopped down, trembling almost as much as the sick boy. "Sissy... Is... Is he gonna be okay?"_

_ "He's gonna be fine, sweetheart, but you need to go and get Ansem _right now_," Rinoa replied sharply. Kairi nodded and, still trembling, opened the door and shuffled out. But not before Jacob muttered, "..... I hate Ansem.........."_

_ She darted through the halls as fast as a four-year-old could, not meeting anyone, to her dismay. She reached the elevator and got in, jumped up and down a few times before she hit the button, and waited impatiently for the slowly moving device to reach the bottom of the castle, way down below..._

_ Suddenly she started to panic. She had never been off her floor without someone accompanying her. She had no idea how to navigate the halls to Ansem's study. She had only been there a few times before..._

_ And what if she didn't get down there in time to help Jacob? What if.... whatever it was that was happening to him... happened? What if she did find Ansem, and he still couldn't help?_

_ Her head was spinning... she was starting to hyperventilate... she hadn't take the outside elevator but a few times, and she wasn't used to being out in the open, with so little air.... But she didn't think to go down the hall a bit farther to the other elevator... this one was closer......_

_ Kairi's knees gave way, and her head hit the bottom of the elevator, and everything blurred away into darkness..._

_ Suddenly, someone was shaking her, and her eyes were opening. She could hear voices, she could see three figures standing over her, she could feel cold hands scoop her off the ground..._

_ "The Princess...?" ".... did she get down...?" "....... take her to Ansem.....?" "........ okay...?"_

"Kairi. Kairi, wake up. Now."

_ That voice didn't fit. It wasn't coming from one of the figures..._

"Kairi, come on... the dreams aren't safe, they're weakening your mind...... Kairi, wake up...."

_.... Who was that....?_

Sora.

Suddenly, Kairi's mind broke away from the vision. The three figures above her were starting to fade away...

"No... no, I don't.... want to....."

"Kairi, you have to wake up _now_. Come back."

Kairi tried to block out the voice, tried to stay asleep, but the more she thought about blocking it, the more she couldn't...

"..... No... Can't come back... I've..... I've.... got to...... He's in trouble......"

_That's right. Jacob's in trouble. Sissy sent me to get Ansem. I've got to help him. I've........ I've got to.... Got to help...._

"Who's in trouble?"

_Who's voice was that....? She didn't recognize it.... and it wasn't one of the three figures who's faces were looming above her's, coming more and more into focus..._

"Kairi, who's in trouble?"

_The voice was fading away, becoming more and more silent, disappearing from her mind..._

_ Kairi rubbed her eyes, then looked up at the faces again. One of them had black hair and a ponytail, a patch eye and scars on his face. The other had long blond hair and green eyes, and was dressed in a lab coat. The last one, the one who was carrying her..... _he looked just like-

Kairi's eyes opened, she sat up, and screamed in horror.

**Outside the city...**

Kadaj mounted his bike, looked back at Noir with a smile, and then drove off into the desert to join his comrades, who were already departing. Noir watched them go as the sun hit the horizon. He looked up into the sky... and saw an angel of death streaking towards him.

Noir drew a sword out of nowhere and held it in a block position as Rinoa's body slammed right into him. He didn't even flinch as all of Rinoa's energy was directed back on her, sending her hurling backwards and over the cliff.

He lazily concealed his blade and sauntered to the edge of the cliff, looking down at the apparently broken body of Rinoa, who had been indented into the ground. He smiled and called down to her. "Princess Riona! A pleasure to see you again."

Her eyes opened, her lip curled in a snarl, and she rigidly rose up off the ground. She looked up at him and yelled with a voice like a demon, "BEGONE!!" Her wings beat again, and she soared upward. Noir stepped backwards as she rammed into the edge of the cliff, completely obliterating it. She emerged out of the flying rock and reared back her arm to strike, a massive ball of fire forming around it. She hurled it at Noir, who didn't even get out of the way as the blast slammed into him. The ball of fire exploded, but Noir remained stedfast, the blow seeming to have no effect. Rinoa thrust both hands at him, and a huge spike of ice suddenly shot up from under the ground, completely incasing him. After only a moment, though, the ice shattered, leaving Noir again unharmed.

Rinoa screamed primally. Noir only smiled, but... in a.... caring way? What?

"Rinoa," Noir said soothingly. "I told you not to let your Sorceress side get the better of you."

Rinoa thrust her hand into the air, and a lightning bold shot down and struck her, leaving a gunblade in her hand. "YOU DID THIS TO ME!!!" She lunged at him, but he sidestepped, and she flew past him and into the rocks. She turned around. "DRAW YOUR WEAPON!!!!"

"Why fight? I've done nothing wrong."

"YOU DAMNABLE CURSE!!!!" She cried. She charged again, swiping at his chest. His body flickered as the blade passed right through him.

"Please stop this, Rinoa."

Rinoa's whole body froze, her wings wide and her face burning with furry.

"Why do you hate me?" Noir asked. "What did I do to you? I can remember a time when you loved me..."

Rinoa's eyes changed for a moment, briefly returning to their normal size and color. Her mouth moved, though it did so like stone. ".... I.... was young....."

"And who more innocent than a child to see the truth?"

Her eyes were again red and large. "... D-.... DIE!!!"

Noir's spell subsided, and she drew back to strike again. She brought her blade down, only for Noir to snatch it out of her hands, duck under her, and strike her with the blunt side so that she hit the ground.

"Rinoa, you forget so easily," he said. "I was a friend of your father's, remember?"

Rinoa slowly began to rise back up. Still hunched over, she muttered in her own voice, "You.... you were...... plotting.............. to destroy........... R.... Rad.... Garden........."

"Never," Noir assured her. "That was all Xehanort and Adel's doing."

Rinoa rose to her full hight, only to stumble slightly. She regained herself and turned, her eyes again red. "YOU......... ABOMINATION!!!!!!" She turned sideways and struck at him with her wing. But she might as well have hit the most solid object in the galaxy, because Noir remained rigged. The bones in the wing broke instantly. Rinoa's eyes and voice became normal again, and she collapsed onto the ground, shrieking in pain.

Noir stepped over the shattered wing and knelt down in front of Rinoa.

And he hugged her.

_Rinoa's mind whirled, and suddenly she was back in time. She was a little girl, she was crying, and someone in a blood red cloak was holding her tightly..._

"NO!!!" Rinoa jerked away from him, flailing backwards, dragging both of her wings on the ground. Tears of pain streamed from her blue eyes as she screamed, "Stay AWAY from me!!!"

Noir's eyes widened in a hurt expression. "But... Rinoa... I'm just trying to help-"

"I don't need your goddamn help!!!" she screamed. She withdrew her undamaged wing, but when she tried to pull the other in, she found that it was impossible, and trying only caused more pain. "Get away!!! GET AWAY!!!"

Noir approached her. "Rinoa, you need help. You're just a little girl..."

_She... she was just a little girl..._

"You need someone to help you."

_She did..._

"NO!!!!!" she yelled again, desperately inching away from him, despite every muscle in her body telling her not to. "YOU WON'T TAKE ME!!!"

"Rinoa... I don't need to..."

He leaned down and grabbed her shoulder. She froze and stared up at him, her face absolutely soaked with tears. Noir took his free hand and gently placed in on her wing. Energy left him, rearranging every bone into it's correct place. Rinoa withdrew the wing automaticly, the pain subsiding almost instantly.

His other hand released some sort of energy as well. Wisps of Darkness gently escaped his fingertips and drifted lazily through Rinoa's head and body.

Noir and Rinoa looked directly into each other's eyes. Rinoa sniffed pathetically, and a few last tears escaped her eyes, which no longer looked fearful. Noir and Rinoa wrapped their arms around each other as Rinoa's body slowly began to change.

Her hair shortened, her legs and arms shrunk, her chest flattened, and her fingers became shorter and stubby.

When Rinoa was released by Noir, she saw a close friend of her father's who had been almost like an uncle since before she could remember.

When Noir released Rinoa, he saw a small, trusting five-year-old with wide, innocent eyes.

"No need to cry," Noir said, smiling softly. "Big girls don't cry..."

**Back at Seventh Heaven...**

The next thing Kairi knew, Sora was franticly asking her what was wrong, and Tifa burst into the room, followed by two small children she didn't recognize. Kairi could barely hear what any of them were saying. The man's face nearly blocked out her vision of the real world.

_"Xemnas... he looked just like Xemnas.... and he was holding me......."_

She became aware that she was breathing so hard it hurt, and that Sora was trying to get her to say something. She could barely even think. It was like there wasn't any energy going to her brain. She managed to babble out the few words she could conceive.

"... J.. Jacob's... sick..... and...... and Xemnas..... Xemnas has me......... he's........ and Rinoa asked-"

"Kairi, snap out of it!"

Sora's voice penetrated the images of her dream. For a single moment, everything shattered. Sora was there.

She stopped muttering, and slowly turned her head to look Sora directly in the eyes. "....S...Sora?"

Sora nodded. "... What's wrong? What happened?"

"Is she okay?"

Sora and Kairi both looked to the door and at the speaker. Marline had asked the question, her eyes filled with worry for the girl she didn't even know. Her light brown hair was tied back in a pony tail with a bow that looked oddly like Aerith's.

Sora was about to respond, but Kairi cut him off. "... Uh.... nothing. Just a bad dream." She looked from the girl to Tifa, to Denzel, and to Sora. "Where... are we, exactly?"

"... On the world we were above on the Shera." He shook his head. "Something hit us... I woke up and we were both in an alley, and you were out cold."

Kairi looked to Tifa. "How did you get here?"

"... Cloud brought me here," she replied. "He's been running a bar downstairs. And taking care of these two."

"... Cloud..." Kairi muttered. "Sora... he's the blond with the huge sword that you told me about, right?"

"Yeah."

She looked at the two kids. "And you are?"

"I'm Marline! Nice to meet you!" Marline said exuberantly. "And this is Denzel!"

"Marline, Denzel can introduce himself," Tifa said.

" 'S-kay," Denzel told her. He had dirty redish hair that almost reached his eyes. He carried himself in a somewhat downtrodden fashion.

"We can get to know each other better in the morning," Tifa told the two. She looked up at Kairi. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"... S-sure!" she said.

Tifa bit her lip. "... Well, Sora, you know where your room is." She then ushered the two children out of the room and closed the door behind her.

"What happened?!?" Sora asked instantly.

Kairi shook her head... the memory wasn't coming through clearly for some reason. "... Jacob... he was sick. He was coughing on the floor, and Rinoa..... she... she told me to get help........ I got on an elevator....... but... I..... I think I passed out. Then there were three people over me. You started to wake me up... but... my mind kind of faded back to my younger self. And... I recognized the guy who was holding me. He looked just like a younger Xemnas."

"Xemnas?" Sora asked. ".... He lived on your world before he lost his Heart. He was one of Ansem's apprentices."

"There were two others..." she muttered. "But.... I can't picture them. It's just... blurry." She clenched her fist in anger. "I wish I hadn't recognized Xemnas! I need to know what happened next!"

"Kairi, didn't we just talk about this?" Sora asked. "The dreams. Are. Bad."

"You're right Sora, we did just talk about this. And I. Don't. Care."

Sora put a hand over his face in frustration. "Why do you have to be such an idiot...?"

"Sora, what if my memories are trying to tell me something important?" Kairi asked.

"They haven't told you anything yet," Sora reminded her.

"But-"

"Kairi, you're a Princess of Heart," Sora reminded her, lowering his hand and looking at her angrily. "We can't afford to lose you to some... brain washing psychopath!"

"But-"

"Listen to me," Sora cut her off. "You said that you remember me trying to wake you up. Right?" Kairi nodded reluctantly. "Well next time I do, you're going to wake up. Understand?"

"You can't tell me what to do!" Kairi exclaimed.

"Yes I can."

"So what, are you going to stay awake whenever I'm asleep from now on?"

Crap. He hadn't thought of that.

"Listen," Sora said threateningly. "If I even think that you had a dream, I'm going to.... to...."

Kairi waited.

"... I'll tell Rinoa. Or Jacob!"

Kairi looked away from him. "Fine," she fumed. Suddenly her eyes widened. She looked at Sora, worried. "Do we even know where they are?!?"

**In space...**

"Where do you propose we start looking?" Jacob asked.

"......"

"Cid?"

Jacob, Merlin and Cid were the only people on the deck at the moment, and the former two were waiting for Cid's verdict.

"...... Get me my scanner."

"You already-"

"Get it."

Jacob looked at Merlin and shrugged. Merlin sighed and effortlessly summoned the handheld device into his hand before handing it to Cid.

"Okay, let's see...."

Jacob and Merlin were left with a bleak silence that was broken only by the occasional, "Uh-uh....." or "Uh-hu...." or "Nu-uh......" until finally the got, "Two places to start looking."

"Where?" Merlin asked.

"Well, even though it looks like it's still destroyed, we could check out the town Tifa stayed lived in when she was here. She and Cloud might be camped out there."

"And the other?" Jacob asked.

".... Well, there was this huge city called Midgar, but it got (R-Rated)ed up. But from the looks of things, there's another, smaller city on the edge. If it's near Midgar, it's probably got enough information for us to figure out where Cloud is."

"Cloud a big deal or something?" Jacob asked.

"Only saved the damn world," Cid said. "With some help from yours truly, of course."

"So, Midgar, then?" Merlin asked.

"Or whatever the city on the outside is called," Cid said. "It's still massive, so we'll have to find some sort of information center or something."

"Wanna go now, or wait until morning?" Jacob asked.

"What kind of question is that?" Cid replied. "Those kids ain't gonna rescue themselves overnight."

**Down below...**

Midnight. In the distance, the lights of Edge continued to flash as the nightlife began. Overhead, a silhouetted airship descended from the sky and landed on the outskirts.

"... Jacob," Noir muttered. "I didn't think you'd be coming right away. That complicates things." He brushed some hair out of his eyes as a gust of wind came by. "I oh so wanted some more time. Kadaj isn't ready yet. Neither is Cloud. Or Sora or Kairi." He paused. "Or even me. I'm never not ready. This is quite a shock, I must say."

He turned around and walked away from the edge of the cliff towards a pitch black fire, just as hot as a normal one, but not nearly as conspicuous. Next to it lay a silently slumbering Rinoa, a soft blanket covering her and a pillow for her head. He knelt down next to her. "Ah, Rinoa," he said. "I do wish things could have stayed the way they were. Life was so much simpler before Kairi and Jacob invaded your life." He smiled. "But you don't know either of them yet, do you? No, I'm going to make things right between us. Can you hear me, Rinoa?"

Rinoa breathed steadily, and softly released a tired, "... Yessss......" the word trailing off into the night.

"Good," Noir said. He stroked her hair gently. "I'm ever so sorry that your father and mother died. I didn't foresee either of their deaths coming. Adel told your uncle and I that Xehanort would betray the world, but neither of us could conceive such an idea..."

He stood and turned towards the cliff and looked out at the air ship again. "I know you know I'm here, Jacob. Do as you wish. But just remember," he glanced down at Rinoa. "I've got insurance."

**Several hours later...**

The early pale light of dawn beat down from the sky. Cloud's bike screeched to a halt outside of the lodge. He swung himself off and withdrew a blade from the massive holder he had on his back. He walked up the steps to the building and threw the door open... only to raise his blade to block the high swing of an iron pole.

A man with blazing red hair and goggles stood before him. The two parted weapons, and the man let out a vicious "Yah!" before charging, his long ponytail swishing behind him. Cloud stepped out of the way so that the man few out the door. Cloud turned, shut the door, and locked it before the other could even react.

"Okay, so you're good..." the man said from outside.

Cloud turned as footsteps came from the door connected to the room. In came a tall, bald black man with shades and ear rings. His black business suit, which matched that of the previous man, didn't do much to conceal his muscular build.

"Yeah Rude, lookn' sharp!" the man outside said.

The new man quickly drew a blade from his suit, but Cloud just as quickly held his sword to the man's neck. He grunted in surrender and stepped back, concealing the blade in his clothes again.

"Good. You fight like the soldier you once claimed to be."

A man came rolling in on a wheel chair, a white cloth draped over him, concealing everything but his hands and most of his face. Barely visible on the wrists was some sort of black marking...

"You haven't lost your touch, Cloud."

".... Rufus Shinra..." Cloud muttered.

"The explosion. I managed to escape-"

"Who were the men who attacked me?" Cloud demanded.

"-before everything collapsed-"

"I'm leaving," Cloud said, turning for the door.

"I wouldn't do that," came the muffled voice of the man outside.

"We need your assistance, Cloud," Rufus said simply.

"Not interested-"

"I..." Rufus stopped him. "... understand that... Shira owes the World a lot. And we've started to give back. We've been leading an investigation."

"We went up to the Northern Crater," the man from outside said.

"And what do you think we found?" Rufus asked. Cloud did his best to hide his anticipation.

"Nothing," Rufus said flatly. "You can rest at ease. But... things didn't go as planed. We were attacked by the same men who assaulted you. Kadaj and his gang."

"Kadaj?" Cloud asked.

"It seems he doesn't want us finishing what we started," Rufus said. "Really... what could they be thinking?"

"..... What does that have to do with me?" Cloud asked.

"You're our buddy, aren't ya?" the man outside asked. Cloud kicked the door angrily.

"Kadaj's group is young and violent," Rufus continued. "As dangerous as they come. That's why we decided it might be in our interest to hire a little... muscle."

"To bad I run a bar now."

"You're all we have," Rufus said sharply. "..... Look, Cloud... You used to be a soldier, right?"

Cloud scoffed. "In my head..." He turned for the door and unlocked it, and started to open it.

"Noir."

Cloud stopped, the door slightly agar. Cloud turned slowly, the red head outside peaking in. "... How do you know that name?"

"It seems..." Rufus paused. "... he's directing Kadaj in some way. He must know something that none of us do. Including those three."

"... Is he here?" Cloud asked.

"Yes."

There was a long moment's silence. Then Cloud said, "What does this have to do with me? Really?"

"I thought we already said-"

"Stop shitting with me," Cloud ordered. "There are plenty of people who would be a lot more willing to help you than me. So why?" Again, a long bout of silence. Cloud was again the one to break it. "........ They.... they wanted.... 'mother'.... what does that mean?"

"You see what I mean?" Rufus came back. "What could they be thinking? I hear there are orphans living with you. You wouldn't want to put them at risk with those three, would you?"

Cloud's eyes flashed ever so subtly. "...... But I-"

"Come on Cloud, think about it," the red head said. "Together we could rebuild Shinra!"

The hair on Cloud's neck stood on end and his eyebrows slanted in anger. He turned for the door and threw it open vehemently. "Not interested."

He walked down the steps towards his bike, and as the door swung shut, the two people inside groaned at the other.

"Reno..."

**Back at Edge...**

Seventh Heaven was open.

And Tifa sure was enjoying Sora doing all the work.

Sora had to fumble his way through most of it for the first hour, but after that the customers slowed down, and he got the hang of the basics. It was going to be a while before he started flipping glasses through the air and pouring drinks over his shoulder, though.

Around three o'clock, Marline came down and reminded Tifa that she had promised to take her to 'the church' the next time they had help. When Sora inquired as to just what 'the church' was, Marline only giggled and told him "It's a secret."

Tifa just told him that she'd explain when she got back, not even asking if Sora would be okay running the shop on his own.

That was about when Kairi came down. She had slept in until almost noon- apparently she didn't manage to get back to sleep until about three in the morning. Sora had come in in the morning, but it hadn't appeared that she was dreaming, so he left her in peace.

Marline offered for Kairi to come with them.

"Where, exactly?" Kairi asked.

"It's a surprise!" Marline informed her.

"You're going to 'the church', whatever that is," Sora said. Marline turned at him and frowned.

Kairi looked to Tifa, who only shrugged. "It's just nice little spot out in the ruins."

"That's sort of contradictory," Sora pointed out as he slid a cup full of ale to a customer down the bar. "What ruins?"

"I..... I'll explain later," Tifa replied. She looked down at Marline. "So you want to go?"

"Yeah!"

She looked to Kairi.

"I don't see why not," the teen replied.

"And I'm stuck here," Sora whined as he turned for the shelves behind him and hung up a cleaned glass. "That's not right."

"We should only be gone for about an hour," Tifa told him. "You can manage the place until then, right?"

"... Sure."

"And Denzel is up stairs. If you need any help, you can ask him. If I come back and a single glass has a smug on it, you're in big trouble. Got it?"

"Yes, mother."

**Outside the city...**

Cloud walked up to the edge of the cliff, picked up the sword from the ground, and stabbed it back down. He looked down at it.

"I said I'd live both our lives," he muttered. "Hmm. Easy to make that promise."

"Isn't it, though?"

Cloud rolled his eyes and turned around. "I'm not sure what you want, and I'm not sure I want to ask."

Noir grinned pleasantly. Cloud glanced over his shoulder at the air ship off in the distance. "Did you lead them here?"

"No."

"... What does Kadaj want?" Cloud asked, looking back at Noir.

"Who knows?" Noir replied, still smiling. "But I think I know what you want."

Cloud's eyes flared. "What do I want?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked. "Once you heard Tifa and your family was in trouble, you came rushing back. Hours faster than your trip over, actually..."

"Shut up."

"And then you ask me if I lead her friends here. What, a little envious that you don't get to spend more time with her?"

"What do you want?!?" Cloud demanded.

"...... Entertainment," Noir replied. "Eternity can get boring without something to do."

"And Bliss of Heart?" Cloud asked.

".... Yes, I'd like that back, too."

"Then why are you here talking to me instead of screwing Jacob?"

"All in good time, all in good time..." Noir said. "You should know, Kadaj thinks that you're in possession of something very important to him."

"And I assume that was your doing?" Cloud questioned unnecessarily.

"I didn't tell them where Tifa is... not yet. But they know you've been staying at the church. And seeing as they think you're dead, you could ambush them rather easily, now couldn't you?"

Cloud frowned at him. He stepped around Noir and towards his bike. He swung a leg over it, and cranked the engine.

And didn't move.

"There's someone else here."

"What makes you say that?" Noir asked.

"..... I can feel..... Someone's Heart..."

"Rinoa."

Cloud's eyes shot to him. "Where is she?"

"Safe."

Cloud grabbed the sword off his back, and was about to hurl himself off the bike at Noir, when the man said, "I'd check your messages, if I were you."

Cloud froze. He snatched his phone and flipped it open, quickly selecting the correct menu. There was a message from Tifa. It had been sent thirty minutes ago.

_"Cloud. It's Tifa. Marline and I are taking Kairi to see the church, just in case you want to come back...... Please do come back."_

Cloud's eyes widened. He quickly hit redial, only to be met with an answering machine.

"Is it because they're under the plate?" Noir suggested. "Or is she just not in a position to answer?"

Cloud shut the phone and looked up at Noir. Next to him stood a small girl in a blue dress, with black hair with three caramel streaks on both sides of her temple.

"..... You won't hurt her."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Noir said. "We're best friends, aren't we, Rinoa?"

"Uh-hu!" Rinoa said happily, taking his hand. She looked to Cloud and smiled. "Who's he?"

Cloud stuck the phone into his clothes and hit the gas, driving straight off the cliff and streaking off towards Edge.

Rocks and boulders shot by so fast that Cloud wasn't even sure if they were real. But he still wasn't going to reach Edge fast enough.

_"Cloud."_

"(R-Rated)!!!!"

Cloud swerved, his bike hit a rock, and they flipped through the air. Cloud lost his grip on the bike, and he hit the ground, bouncing and and thrashing forward. He finally ground to a halt on the ground. His face was bloodied, his clothes were ripped, and he was... clutching his apparently undamaged arm.

_"Cloud. I'm coming back. And I'm going to kill you."_

The pain stopped. The voice became silent. And Cloud suddenly felt the pain throughout the rest of his body.

He got to his feet, stumbling a bit. He looked forward for his bike. It was turned over, but otherwise didn't look damaged. He tripped and hobbled his way towards it before leaning over and carefully lifting it up and turning it upright. He swung his leg over it again and started it again, turning and heading towards Edge.

**Thirty minutes ago...**

Tifa slipped the phone back into her dress and carefully opened the large wooden doors to the church. Marline ran in ahead of her, with Kairi walking next to Tifa.

"What is this place?" Kairi asked. Some of the stained glass windows had been shattered all over the floor from where a part of the roof caved in. At the end of the long rows of pews was a flower garden, strangely blooming brilliantly in a wide hole in the floor.

"This used to be where Aerith spent all her time," Tifa told her.

"Aerith?" Kairi asked. "She lived here too?"

"Mmhmm. A whole bunch of us wound up here after Radiant Garden fell." She looked down at Kairi. "We landed in different places, but eventually we managed to find each other again."

"Tifa!"

Kairi and Tifa both looked up to the front of the church. Marline waved them towards her and they pointed towards what looked like a small camping sight. Kairi and Tifa approached and saw a rolled up sleeping bag, a lantern, a pile of cell phone batteries, and a large container of some sorts.

"Does Cloud live here?" Marline asked.

Tifa looked down at the set up with disdain. "... I guess he does."

Kairi knelt down over the box and picked up what looked like a long bandage stained with some black substance. "... What's this?"

Marline looked at the bandage for a moment before she let out a small shriek. "It's just like Denzel!"

"Excuse me?"

Tifa knelt down as well and gently took the bandage from Kairi's hands before standing back up again. "She means the Stigma."

Kairi stood and looked at the bandage. "The Stigma...?"

"Geostigma, to be precise. It's a disease that's been plaguing the world for the last two years. It infests the body and leaches away at your life force. When it gets bad, it oozes right out of your skin." Kairi was about to speak, but Tifa cut her off. "Yes, Aerith has it."

No one spoke for a moment, until Marline broke the silence. "Did Cloud leave because he was sick?"

"......"

"Tifa?"

"How long ago did he leave?" Kairi asked.

".... About six days ago," Tifa replied. "I just woke up one morning and... his room was empty."

"What happened the night before?"

Tifa looked at her blankly for a moment before she said, "He.... I asked about the black markings on Denzel's head. He... he has it. But it's a really early stage. After he explained it, I... I told him about Aerith. He.... just went upstairs. I figured he was shocked, but for him to leave-"

"Wait.... Did he love her?"

Marline looked up at Kairi in a 'you did _not_ just ask that' way.

"...... Kairi..... You should know that.... Aerith... she di-"

Suddenly, the doors to the church swung open.

Oh, and just so all you readers know, it isn't who you were expecting.

**Thirty minutes later...**

On the Shera's glass bridge stood the extremely bored Donald Duck and the totally absent Terra. Everyone else other than Merlin had gone out into the city. Merlin was in his room working on some sort of magical concoction.

Donald had attempted to engage Terra in conversation a few times, but she had usually given him a confused- and slightly intimidated- look, and he had stopped. She hadn't moved for the past hour or so, simply standing against the window and staring out across the endless desert.

Donald was twiddling his thumbs endlessly when he decided enough was enough.

"I'm gonna go and radio the others and ask them how things are going," Donald told Terra. She was unresponsive. "... Uh... yell if something happens. Intercom's next to the wheel." She nodded. ".... Be back in a minute."

Donald walked out somewhat awkwardly, leaving Terra alone. She heard the door close, and she turned around to look after him, but turned back to the window a second later.

Dust.

Lots of it. And it looked like it was going to come right past them and into the city. She placed a hand on the glass and leaned closer so that she could get a better view.

It looked like a motorcycle. She couldn't make out the driver, but she did see a huge, gleaming sword across his back-

She recognized it.

What? Recognized something? That was new.

She turned around and ran up the steps to the wheel, and was about to hit he intercom button, when she stopped herself. Her hand hovered for another moment or two before she turned and bolted out of the room, heading for the loading ramp.

She dashed through the halls as fast as she could, twisting corner and corner that she had spent mindlessly wondering during the flight to this world. She reached the folded up ramp and hit the switch. The gate slowly creaked open, and a voice sounded throughout the ship: "Loading ramp opening. Loading ramp opening."

She didn't wait for it to fold down all the way. Just when it was cracked open enough on the side, she slipped out and fell ten feet to the ground, rolling expertly when she hit and sprinting towards the bow of the ship with speed she didn't know she had to intercept the rider.

She ran under the bridge. She could see the rider now. He had bright blond, spiky hair and was dressed in a black coat.

"Terra!!!"

She whipped around to see Donald and Merlin running down the ramp. "Get back in the ship!" Donald yelled. "What's wrong with you?!?"

Terra looked away and ran again, trying to get directly in the driver's path. She stopped and tried to wave him down. The driver regarded her by swerving out of the way and continuing towards the city.

"Wait!! Cloud!!"

Terra's hand shot to her mouth. _"I know his name..."_

"Terra!!! Get back here!"

Terra shot one glance at the other two before sprinting off at an inhuman speed after Cloud.

**At Seventh Heaven...**

Sora hug up the last glass as the last customer walked out the door. Denzel had informed him that there weren't usually any more comers after six o'clock during the middle of the week, and that they usually just went upstairs and listened for the bell above the door.

Sora was muttering to himself about having to load the dishwasher when Denzel came down the stairs. "Are they back yet?"

"No," Sora replied absently, carefully placing the next glass in. "Should they be?"

".... No..."

Sora looked up and smiled. "Then why ask?"

"... Well... they could be here any minute," Denzel told him. "If they're a bit early."

"You know about the church they're headed to?" Sora asked, looking back down at his task.

"... Yeah."

Sora looked up again. "I recognized that tone."

"Excuse me?"

"That's the 'there's a deeper story here I'm not going into' tone. A friend of mine uses that tone a lot."

"....... Uh....."

"It's okay," Sora said, laughing a bit. "Don't worry about it." He looked back down at the dishwasher. "Why don't you go sit out on the front until they show up?"

Denzel regarded him blankly before briskly running across the bar and to the door.

"And put up the closed sign while you're out there!"

**Elsewhere in the city...**

Max clawed his way out of the dumpster he had been so fortunate (and I use that term loosely) to fall into after Rinoa had struck him. He flopped down onto the dirty alley floor and lay flat on his back, panting (doggie humor) for the slightly fresher air. He stayed there pathetically before he heard the manly sound of a motorcycle engine shoot past the alley.

He rolled over (more doggie humor) and rose to his feet. He checked to make sure his sword was still hanging from his waist before he stepped out into the sun... only to almost get run over by the motorcycle he had heard.

"Hey!!!" he yelled after him. "Watch where you're driving, bozo! Pedestrians first!"

And suddenly, out of nowhere, Roadrunner- oops, I meant Terra- screeched to a halt in front of him. "Which way did that bike go?"

"Terra?!?"

"Which way did the bike go?!?" she demanded.

"Uh.... that way, turned left at the second intersection."

Terra didn't bother to thank him before shooting off again, going straight through the throngs of people walking through the streets.

** A few streets away...**

Jacob walked down the sidewalk cautiously, his pants mostly unloaded off all their contents so as to avoid being picked. As he watched everyone who passed him out the corner of his eyes, his left hand hovered ever so subtly over the handgun he had concealed under his unbuttoned Oxford shirt.

The people on the street jumped out of the way as a bike flew past them. Jacob looked up at it.

"Cloud!!!" he shouted. He drew his gun and fired a round into the air. He didn't stop, but he sure drew the attention of everyone on the street.

"Gun!!" someone screamed, and suddenly everyone either ducked to the ground, sprinted away, or lunged for Jacob. A huge, burly man snatched at Jacob, who simply rolled between the man's legs and out onto the street. He looked down after Cloud, only to be knocked over by a red blur.

Jacob jumped to his feet just in time to see Cloud turn a corner, shortly followed by Terra.

"Crap," he muttered just as someone pounced on him from behind.

"Drop the gun, kid!" the man yelled. Jacob clenched his free hand and yelled, "Aero!"

The man was blasted off of Jacob. Jacob stood, but stumbled again. He hardly ever used magic, and when he did it wore him out more than it did for others, for some reason.

He glanced around to see if anyone else was going to challenge him, and he didn't get the response he wanted.

A huge black wolf with leapt onto Jacob, knocking him to the ground. Jacob hurled it off of him, briefly glancing the Heartless insignia on it's chest, before firing a round at the best. It exploded into a whiff of Darkness. He didn't have time to celebrate before another wolf came out of nowhere and slashed at his face. Jacob stepped back hastily and kicked out at the beast's chest, catching it mid-jump. He swung his leg downward to the ground, destroying the Heartless.

"Impressive."

Jacob turned again and held his gun up to the stranger's head, who was standing but two feet behind Jacob.

"Well, that's not the way to start a friendship," Kadaj sneered.

"Yeah, I wouldn't screw with my brother if I were you."

Jacob shot a quick glance over his shoulder at Loz, but he didn't look back fast enough to stop Kadaj from grabbing at the gun. Kadaj gripped the barrel, Jacob clutching the rest. He pulled the trigger.

Kadaj looked down at the hole that had formed in his chest. Slowly, the wound began to seep with Darkness and seal back up. Kadaj looked back up at Jacob and smiled. "Too bad."

Jacob jerked the gun away and jumped, flipping and kicking off of Kadaj's chest. He flew back into Loz, to whom he delivered a powerful punch in the face.

To which the recipient responded by snatching Jacob out of the air and hurling him down the street.

Jacob bounced a few times rather painfully before he finally came to a stop about fifty yards from where he started. He got to his feet, wiped the blood from his lip, and dropped the clip out of his gun. He caught it, stuffed it into his pants, and grabbed another one. He shoved it into the gun and looked up to see Loz sprinting at him, glowing blue. Every few seconds he'd flash forward an extra few feet.

"Take this, 'roid boy," Jacob muttered. He pointed the gun at the ground in front of the next spot Loz would appear and fired.

Loz zapped to the spot just as the shell hit the street. It exploded in a massive ball of fire, hurling him back towards Kadaj.

Jacob smirked as the smoke cleared, revealing a huge crater in the asphalt. "Glad they work."

He pointed the gun at Kadaj and Loz and fired again.

**By now, it would be something like thirty-six minutes ago...**

Marline was about to run into the isle to get a better view of the new comer, but Tifa stopped her.

The stranger slowly walked down the church towards them. The entity was shielded in dark brown armor, the design almost exactly like that that the Stormtroopers wore. The distinct difference was that their helmet's visor was a not-translusive gold, and it was face sized.

"What have we got here?" a female voice asked. "I would have at least expected Sora or Jacob to be here protecting you, Princess. But just who is this?"

"How did you find us?" Tifa demanded.

"The Empire makes it their business to know where everything and everyone is," the woman replied.

".... You're a Stormtrooper?" Kairi asked.

"What? No way, honey." The woman detached a rifle from her back as Tifa moved Marline behind her and lifted her fists warningly.

"My name is Tex. And I'm a Freelancer."

**So? You like? Hows about those twists, huh? **

** Don't own... a lot of people. Give me a second...**

** Rufus Shinra, Reno, Rude, or Tex. The first three are from FF VII, and Tex is from Red Vs. Blue. **

** Anyway, next time you'll get to see two fights right off the bat. Pretty cool, huh? You'll also get to see Sora in action. Twice! That's more than the whole freaking fiction, right?**


	33. Heroes Get Remembered

**I'm back! And that's all there is to say. Besides the fact that it's SUMMER! That means I can actually finish this thing (and hopefully start the next one... Lord, my imagination has written an entire series...). I personally think that this is one of my best chapters yet, though chapter 30 is my number 1 pick. But this one is even LONGER than chapter 30! Really, this thing is massive!... Actually, that sounds wrong.**

** You'll get to see Sora kick a bit of ass in this chapter, which he hasn't gotten to do a lot in this story. (Sorry, Jacob... as much as I like you, I've used you a bit too much) He isn't going to fly solo this time around, though... that comes next chapter... O_o.**

** This chapter is really the longest, though. Like, super long. Though, the next one will probably be longer still. Anyone see a trend here?**

** Chapter 33: Heroes Get Remembered...**

**At the church...**

Tex watched as Tifa took a step towards the isle. She threw her head back and laughed. "Hand-to-hand combat? I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into, Tifa."

Tifa's lip curled. "How do you know my name?"

"Didn't I just tell you the Empire knows everything?" she said. "Don't screw with us." She took the gun in both hands and pointed it directly at Tifa's head. "Though I would say that I'm a bit of an expert on you."

"Excuse me?"

"Seemed like you were the only thing Cloud used to talk about."

Tifa's eyes widened, and her hard face melted in shock. "C-Cloud?"

"You bet your ass."

Tifa's expression again turned sour. She charged forward and ducked at the same time, the three-round-burst shot from Tex's rifle flying over her. Tex aimed again, but Tifa was already on her. She swung upwards and knocked the gun from Tex's hands, and it went flying off behind the pews. Tex grabbed Tifa's still extended fist and tightened so much that it almost broke Tifa's hand. Just as the martial artist was recovering enough to swing with the other hand, Tex hurled her up in the air. Tex stepped back slightly, and just as Tifa was about to hit the floor, Tex kicked her out of the air and into the wall of the church.

Tifa fell to the floor, only to regain her composure moments later. She stood up and looked over at Tex.

"Impressive," the armored woman said. "Most wouldn't have gotten up after that." Tifa could tell she was smirking under her helmet. "But I know no one gets up from this."

She snatched a one-hand machine gun off of a holder on her leg. She lifted it so fast that Tifa didn't even have time to react before she pulled the trigger.

Good thing someone else had Tifa's back.

Kairi came out of nowhere and broadsided right into the gun. It sprayed the wall next to Tifa for a second before it flew from Tex's hand. Kairi dove after it as it slid along the wooden floor of the church. Tex was about to go after her when Tifa leapt off the wall and hurled herself into Tex, sending the two of them crashing through one of the pews.

Kairi grabbed the gun up off the ground and lifted the surprisingly heavy object with two hands. She clumsily pointed the gun towards Tex and Tifa, trying to hold it steady and remember what she had seen Jacob do.

Tex swung Tifa off of her and hopped up, delivering a punch to her opponent's face before she could fully rise again. Tifa spun on the ground and tripped up Tex, knocking her down. Tifa jumped up and turned to take a kick at Tex, but the Freelancer was too quick. She jumped up and grabbed Tifa's foot with one hand. With the other, she blocked one of Tifa's punches. She jerked on Tifa's arm, cleanly breaking it. Tifa yelped but otherwise tired her best not to show any pain. She jerked her leg upward and kicked Tex in the head. Tex's neck jerked back and she stumbled back out into the isle. Tifa cringed slightly as she tried to lift her now useless right arm. She shook out her left and waited for Tex to make a move.

Instead, Kairi decided to start spraying at Tex. The gun's kick initially threw her off, but she corrected herself and pumped bullets right at Tex's chest.

Except that they weren't hitting Tex's chest.

Some sort of shield around Tex was protecting her, with what looked like yellow lightning flying around her. She glanced at Kairi for only a moment before she redirected her attention to Tifa. She charged at the woman and jumped into the air, swinging her foot down across Tifa's face. Tifa crumpled to the ground, landing painfully on her broken right arm. This time she actually shrieked in pain. Tex didn't give her even a moment's respite. She grabbed Tifa up off the ground and lifted her into the air. Kairi stopped shooting for fear that she might hit Tifa.

Tex slammed Tifa across the face with her free hand viciously as Kairi moved so that she could get a better angle. Tifa's head hung limp after the blow, and Tex carelessly threw her body aside. She bounced a few times before she came to a rest in the flowers. Marline, who had been hiding behind a fallen column, rushed to her side.

Kairi screamed a defiant "No!" and shot again from her position on the other side of the pews, only to find that she had emptied the gun's clip. Tex took a few steps, picked up her rifle, and shot the three rounds perfectly with only a second to aim so that the bullets knocked the gun right out of Kairi's hands. She then hurled the rifle at Kairi's body. Kairi didn't react in time, and she was knocked to the ground.

Tex stepped out into the isle. Kairi was clumsily trying to lift the extremely heavy rifle off the ground, with little success. Tex walked towards her and grabbed her shoulder. She pulled the girl away from the gun and turned her around so that they were looking directly at each other. Eye to mask.

Kairi defiantly swung her fist at Tex's head. Tex snatched the fist out of the air and squeezed it in her hand, bending Kairi's arm back at the same time. Kairi screamed as she crumpled to her knees. The pain was so extreme she could barely bring herself to move any other part of her body. Tex jerked Kairi back up to her feet only to knee her in the stomach. Tex let go of Kairi's hand and let her topple to the floor, her left hand clutching the right as she tried to scream, but couldn't because there was no longer any air in her body.

"Pathetic," Tex muttered. "I'd have expected a little more from you. A Princess of Heart! I don't care if you girls are supposed to be all 'Light' and shit, you should have some way of defending yourselves!" She smirked under her helmet. "I suppose you really are princesses. Relying on the brave prince to come and save your ass every damn minute. But where's your prince now?"

Kairi took in infrequent breaths, and with them, she said jerkily, "He's... coming... by... now... you're... not going... to... get-"

"Away with it?" Tex asked. "Isn't that cliché? Whatever. I'd tell you that'd I'd (R-Rated) up your prince right after this, but that'd be a lie. I'm only here for you." Tex knelt down next to her, and her armored hand suddenly began to glow an eerie purple. Tex placed it against Kairi's forehead. Kairi winced, but she just as quickly realized that she wasn't feeling any pain.

And she just as quickly realized that she couldn't feel anything.

And then she didn't realize anything at all, because her mind had shut down.

Her eyes stared blankly up at Tex for a few seconds before she blinked. When she opened her eyes, a blinding white light radiated from them. It seemed almost as though they were smoking, only the smoke was thin wisps of Light. Kairi opened her mouth, which was equally as bright, and spoke with the voice of a thousand women.

_"What is your name?"_ they asked.

"Agent Texas."

_"A title, not a name."_

"It's the only name I use now."

_"... A more suitable answer."_

Tex stood and backed up as Kairi got to her feet. She looked over to Tifa and Marline, the latter of whom was staring at Kairi in shock. _"You needn't see this,"_ the voices announced through Kairi. She waved her hand once at Tifa and Marline, and both of them fell asleep, with Marline falling gently into the soft flowers. Kairi looked back to Tex. _"Why do you seek to capture the essence of Light, the herald of Kingdom Hearts, and sixth of the modern seven, Kairi the Princess of Heart, and her Light, Isamahii?"_

"I'm under orders from the his Lord Darth Vader of the Galactic Empire, faithful servant of Emperor Palaptine," Tex replied.

_"Palpatine? He is an evil man."_

"I don't disagree with you all, exalted ones," Tex said. "But it's still my job."

_"Hmm. Perhaps we should teach you that one does not simply go about attempting to change the fate of the galaxy,"_ they said. Kairi thrust out her right arm, and in a flash of Light appeared a keyblade. The end was covered in floral images, still stained with the blood of three Stormtroopers. _"For the second time of Isamahii's current cycle, we shall defend her and her herald, Kairi of Radiant Garden, when no one else can!"_

"Finally, a challenge," Tex said. She rested her rifle on her shoulder. "This should be fun."

**Out on the streets, several minutes later...**

Jacob fired another round at Loz and Kadaj as the everyone on the streets ran away from the conflict. They both leapt into the air over the explosion, coming down about half way between Jacob and where they had been a second ago. Jacob shoved the gun back into his pants and grabbed another item out of his pocket as he began to charge at the two, who were running at him as well. He whipped out what appeared to be the handle of a sword. He hit a switch on the side and segments of a sliver sword slid out one segment at a time. It finished just as he reached Loz, who was again using his speed abilities. Loz swung his fist at Jacob, who neatly ducked under it and then slashed at Loz's back. The burly man rolled forward to avoid the slash. Jacob was about to persue him when he heard the swish of a blade behind him. Jacob put his sword to his back and barely blocked Kadaj's two-bladed sword. Jacob pushed the sword off and turned around to block another swipe from Kadaj, who was smiling maniacally. They held the lock for a few moments before Kadaj drew back, indicating to Jacob that Loz was about to punch a hole through his torso. He backflipped into the air over Loz, who punched at mid air and consequently stumbled and fell to the ground. Jacob landed and pulled his gun with his free hand so fast that Kadaj didn't even have time to react to the next shot.

Jacob blasted the ground between Kadaj and the fallen Loz, sending them both flying to opposite sides of the street. Jacob was too close to the blast, though, and was knocked back a few feet. He regained his balance and looked to either side of the street. It looked like Loz had been thrown through the widow of an old building, and Kadaj was splattered against the side walk. The latter got to his feet, yanked his sword out of the ground, and charged Jacob again.

This time, just as Kadaj was about to swing, Jacob lunged for the sword. His blade went between the two on Kadaj's sword. He twisted his sword, yanking Kadaj's out of his hand. Jacob jerked his sword upwards, sending the other blade flying into the air. He swung at Kadaj once to keep him back before he snatched the blade out of the air with his free hand and went on a full offensive.

Jacob swished one blade at Kadaj's head, and the other at his legs. Kadaj jumped into the air and went flat as a board between the two blades before flipping in mid air and landing on his feet. He thrust forward to attempt to snatch one of the blades while Jacob was rearing back, but Jacob managed to roll out of the way just as Kadaj was on top of him. He hopped back up and swiped both swords individually at Kadaj, who ducked under the first one and then kicked the second one. Kadaj's sword went flying out of Jacob's hand and came back down in Kadaj's.

"What a short lived upper hand," Kadaj said. "I wonder how long this will go on before you decide to tell us where Mother is."

"The hell?" Jacob asked. "Mother?"

Kadaj swung at Jacob, who effortlessly side-stepped and countered. Kadaj dodged as well, but almost lost his footing and barely missed falling to the ground.

"Brother!"

The wall of the old building exploded, and a huge ripple of energy went through the street, throwing up concrete like waves of water. Kadaj jumped over the wave, as did Jacob. Loz emerged from the building, the device on his arm rearing back as though priming for another strike.

"We have the upper hand now," Kadaj smirked. "Where's your back up?"

"Jacob!"

Jacob turned and saw Max charging towards him, sword in hand. "Catch!"

He hurled the blade like a javelin towards Jacob, who in turn drew his gun and hurled in to Max. They both grabbed the other's weapon out of mid air and pointed them at the enemy.

"Hmm," Kadaj scoffed. "Let's see what your friend can do."

Jacob swung both of his swords at Kadaj again while Loz charged at Max. The dog pointed the gun and pulled the trigger, in no way expecting the resulting explosion.

"Holy mother of the mouse!" Max exclaimed.

Kadaj kicked Jacob in the chest, and Jacob grabbed Kadaj's extended leg and swung him into the wall of the nearest building. The man in black simply repelled back off at Jacob, brandishing his sword dangerously. Jacob pulled a Matrix and Kadaj flew right over him.

"You know," Jacob commented. "You'd think that your buddy over there would have learned not to run towards the guy with the gun by now." He said this as Max fired his third round and sent Loz flying again.

"He only has so many shots," Kadaj pointed out.

"Hmm. A valid point." He turned. "Hey Max!" he yelled down the street. "Catch!" He hurled the sword back at Max just as Kadaj decided to leap at him again.

"Denied."

Jacob opened one of his pockets, and out burst an inflating rubber raft. It was solid instantly, and Kadaj flew right into it. Before it even had time to fall to the ground, Jacob had stabbed his sword right through it and into Kadaj's chest.

Max let his sword hit the ground next to him as he was enjoying Jacob's blow-everything-up pistol a lot more.

Loz was making his fifth attempt to reach him. Max checked the chamber, then slid the magazine out.

One shot left.

"Oh, crap!" Max yelled, perhaps a bit too loudly. "Out of freakn' ammo?"

"Let's see how you like me now, kid!" Loz yelled, slamming the machine on his arm into the ground. The wave shot forward to Max, who dove out of the way. Max snatched his sword off the ground and dropped the gun and clip, charging at Loz. He swung the blade at the mechanism on his arm, but it only bounced off. "Don't even try!" Loz yelled. "This thing's hard as hell!"

"That sounds kind of wrong..." Max commented. He backed up towards the gun as Loz reared back again to hit the ground. He created another shock wave, even though Max was practically point blank.

Just how he wanted it.

He, the gun, and the clip were all launched into the air. Before they got any higher, though, Max slammed the clip into the gun and fired point blank at Loz. He was already twenty feet in the air before the explosion occurred. He looked to the horizon just as the sun began to vanish behind it, casting the world into an orange light.

**Back at the church...**

The doors of the church swung open, the eerie glow of twilight seeping in through them. Cloud stepped in, sword already off his back. He looked in at the destroyed pews, saw the armored figure looming over the body of a girl, and Marline crouching over someone in a black dress. Marline looked up and screamed his name. "Cloud! Tifa's hurt!"

Cloud took another step into the church, a frown on his face. Tex looked at him. "... Cloud?"

"Tex. Long time no see."

Tex shrugged. "Perhaps that's for the best."

Cloud glared at her. "You owe me a favor, I think."

Tex tilted her head to one side for a moment. "Oh yes! Now I remember. Man, that cock-sucker really had a my number-"

"Just get lost," Cloud ordered. "I'd hate to have to inform the President (A/N: Not Rufus) that I finished you off."

Tex nodded. "This is the only time though." There was a pause. "It really is good to see you again, Cloud."

"Shut up and get out."

Tex vanished into thin air. Her rifle moved as though someone was picking it up, and then it disappeared too. The same happened to her smaller machine gun. The clunking steps of armor on wood faded away after a few more seconds.

Cloud waited at the ready for a little bit longer before he hastily put his sword back in it's holder and ran to Kairi's side. She was breathing heavily, and her eyes were threatening to roll into the back of her head. She blinked several times as she bit down on her lip, drawing blood. She was clutching her right hand in pain.

"... You're... Cloud..."

Cloud knelt down next to her. "Yeah."

She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes in pain. "... Sora... and Tifa... they... told me..."

"About what I've been doing since way back when? Not much to say." He looked down at her two hands. He gently removed her left hand from her right and felt it for any broken fingers. Kairi cringed and let out a few cries of pain as he did so. "Looks like you're gonna be okay," Cloud reported. "Did she get you anywhere else, Kairi?"

She shook her head as her consciousness started to fade. "... How... do you... know my name?"

Cloud's voice came to her through the haze. "... Kairi... well, I guess you _were_ a bit young..."

And that was the last thing Kairi heard before her mind went blank.

"Cloud!"

Cloud looked up at Marline. "Tifa's hurt too!"

Cloud glanced back down at Kairi one more time before he went over to the other two. He stepped onto the flower patch and was instantly hit by the golden light coming in through the hole in the ceiling. He knelt down in the flowers and looked at Tifa's arm, which was bent at an angle an arm was never meant to bend.

"You're late..." Tifa muttered, her eyes closed.

"..." He looked at Marline. "Get one of the green orbs out of that container and give it to me." She nodded and ran over to the container at Cloud's makeshift camp.

"She...Tex... said she... knew you..."

"She does."

"... Kairi?"

"She's fine."

"... I heard... you... talking with her..."

"And?"

Tifa's eyes opened barely. "Cloud... she... she doesn't remember... anything from... before... Cloud..."

Her eyes closed as Marline came running back with the object Cloud had requested. He took it from her and shoved it into his own arm. It somehow went right through his skin. "Curaja."

A green light appeared above the three. Small glowing green specks floated down onto them. They soaked their way through Tifa and Marline's clothes and into their skin. For some reason, the specks seemed to reject Cloud, with the specks going over him and falling to the ground, almost like the specks and Cloud were magnets repelling each other.

Tifa's arm slowly inched it's way back into a more human position, the bone beginning to heal. Cloud knew that even a spell this powerful wouldn't totally heal her, but it would at least start it on it's way. Cloud himself didn't feel that good. That spell had taken almost all his energy. He wasn't even sure he he was going to be able to get back up...

Marline was staring up at the huge green light above them, eyes glossy and mouth hanging open in awe. Every little curing speck that went into her body tried to find a wound, and, failing to find one, released it's energies into her body. Slowly she became aware of the warm fuzzy feeling that was spreading through her body. Her brain began to feel the same way. She smiled up at the light and giggled. "Cloud, it's sooooooo pretty...!" she sighed contently, the green light reflecting off her eyes.

Cloud, breathing heavily, looked at her and couldn't help but smile. "Sure is, kiddo," he panted, reaching up and patting her head gently.

The light faded and the specks disappeared. Marline tried to take a step, but found herself too dizzy and collapsed into the flowers, giggling madly the whole time. Cloud put a hand to his arm, and the green object came out. "Marline," he said to her. She got on her knees and nodded, the little laughs subsiding slightly. "Could you put this back for me?" he asked, weakly holding out his arm.

"Uh-hu!" she said, rather over zealous. She snatched it out of his hand and tried to stand up again. She swayed a bit as she stepped towards the box again, very 'one foot in front of the other' like.

Cloud stood as well, only for his knees to give way on him as soon as he got up. He fell to the ground again, only for someone to grab him from behind.

He observed the obviously feminine hands that had grabbed him before he looked over his shoulder right into the face of a blond girl with bright blue eyes.

"... T-... Terra?"

She gasped. "You _do_ know me."

"... What?"

"... Your name is Cloud... right?"

Cloud jerked out of her arms. He nearly stumbled right over Tifa, narrowly avoiding stepping on her wounded arm. He turned back at Terra. "Turn around," he ordered.

"E-excuse-?"

"Turn around!"

She nodded nervously and did as she was told, turning and facing towards the church door.

Cloud carefully stepped towards her and lifted her pony tail up.

"... Your chip... it's gone."

She looked over her shoulder at him. "... My... chip? How did you know-"

"Cloud!"

The two of them looked down at Marline, who was hopping up and down next to them like she needed to go to the bathroom.

"... Yes, Marline?" Cloud asked, still very close to Terra's back.

She pointed up at Terra. "Who's-" Giggle. "-this?"

"... Her name is Terra," Cloud replied.

"Ooooooohhhhhhhhhh," Marline dragged on, her mouth a perfect O shape. "I got it!" She promptly ran back to Cloud's camp and started sprinting around it with her arms stuck out like a plane.

"... Marline?" Terra asked. Cloud nodded. "She yours?"

Cloud grunted. "In a way."

They both watched the girl for a few moments more before Terra asked, "Is she acting like that because of the spell?"

Cloud looked at her. "How long have you been here?"

"... I saw you outside the city. I've been following your bike... I only got here as you cast it..."

They both stood in silence for a bit longer before Cloud said, "Yeah. I used an extremely powerful healing spell." He gestured to Tifa. "She needed it. But... the spell is sort of ranged. Marline got some of it's energy, and... well, spells that strong aren't supposed to be used on kids that young anyway, and she wasn't even wounded..."

"... So she's high?"

"Pretty much," Cloud replied as Marline lost her balance and swayed over to the flowers again, where she promptly fell face first into the plants and started rolling around into a fit of giggles.

Terra finally seemed to notice that she and Cloud were standing extremely close to each other, and she took a step away. "... How do I know you? I... don't remember anything that happened before I got the chip out."

Cloud looked at her, his face unreadable. "You were a slave to the Empire. From what I understand, one of the higher-ups kidnapped you when you were a baby and raised you as their daughter. Eventually, one of their most... _prestigious_ generals took an interest in you. He implanted that mind control chip so that you wouldn't resist the trials he put you through."

She held her hands together in front of her chest fearfully. "... How long ago was I... implanted?"

"About three years," he replied. "You were thirteen. Your 'father' wasn't very happy about it, but... they forced him. You didn't even know what was happening."

Terra felt a tear she didn't understand escape her eye. "... Were you there when-?"

"No," he replied flatly. "I... was in their custody for a few months. Eventually I offered my services to them in order to obtain my freedom. They... they asked me to fight you. To see how powerful you were."

Terra gasped. "Did... did I hurt you?"

Cloud contemplated it for a moment, then nodded.

She bowed her head. "I'm sorry-"

"Never say you're sorry." Terra looked up at him. "It's a sign of weakness."

She recognized that, too.

"... Did you... say that to me?" she asked.

Cloud hesitated. "I damaged your chip in the fight. They had to remove it and make a replacement, and it took days. When they took it off, you... you still had your memories. You were an emotional wreck when you were told that you had missed two years of your life and had killed people."

"I... killed people?" she asked.

"You were a weapon, Terra," Cloud told her. "And that was all the Empire viewed you as. They shoved you in a cell until they could finish the chip, and they shoved me in the one next to you since I had damaged the chip."

"What was I like?" she questioned, her tone suggesting that she was almost afraid to know.

"A lot like you are now. Afraid, overly concerned with others. You kept asking me if I was alright, and you kept apologizing over and over again. And you kept crying... I didn't know there was so much liquid in a human... I tried to help you as much as I could. But... you were pretty far gone. Just when I thought that you were starting to do better, they got a new chip, they pulled you out of the cell, and they marched you away. You tried to look back at me, but the kept hitting you."

"They let me out a bit after. They let me see you, but of course, you were under their control so you didn't recognize me. You couldn't even do anything on your own unless someone told you to do something."

Terra waited.

And waited.

"... Anything else?"

"... No. I wish I could tell you more, I know you have questions, but... I can't-"

And that was when Terra hugged him.

She practically pounced on him, throwing her arms around his neck. Cloud reared back in shock, but didn't shove her off.

He noticed that his shoulder was wet.

"Terra-"

She relinquished him hastily, backing up. She wiped at her eyes, trying to rid herself of the tears. "I-I-I'm sorry. I d-don't know what came over m-me-"

"Never say you're sorry," he reminded her. "I'm someone familiar, right?" Cloud shrugged. "I suppose you could use a shoulder to cry on right now."

"N-no, I'm g-g-good," she stammered, backing up some more and almost tripping over one of the pews.

Cloud suddenly felt something tugging on his pants. He looked down and saw Marline, who was looking straight up at him and swaying as if she was getting vertigo. "Hey Cllouuuuuuud," she slurred, a somewhat bemused look on her face. "... Are w-we gonnnnnnnnaaaaa g-ggggooo back to the b-b-b-bar... hic!" At the hiccup, a bright green bubble escaped from Marline's mouth. "Ooooohhh... pretty..." she mumbled, letting go of Cloud and reaching for the bubble. Cloud quickly popped it and knelt down next to her.

"Marline?" he said. She looked at him and nodded, her face sporting a pouty look that asked 'why'd you pop it?'. "Marline, you body is trying to get rid of that stuff because doesn't need it," Cloud said gently. "If you pop them, they'll just go right back into you."

"Oh. Okay!" she said happily. Then, she promptly hiccuped and popped the bubble before Cloud had the chance to react, the magical material soaking back into her finger.

**Back at Seventh Heaven...**

Sora glanced at the clock as the finished cleaning up the bar.

"Ten minutes... he's been out there a while..." He put down the cloth he was using to clean the tables and walked over to the door. He opened in slowly just in case Denzel was sitting in front of the door. He wasn't. Sora stepped out of the door and glanced around the street and at the near buildings.

No Denzel, Tifa, Marline, or Kairi.

Sora looked around for anyone who wasn't just passing through and might have seen where he went. He saw an man dressed in red and black concealed in the shadows of an alley across the street. Sora ran into the street and shoved his way through the crowd to get to him.

"Sir," Sora said. "You didn't happen to see a kid with redish hair sitting by that door, did you?" he asked, gesturing towards the bar.

"Hmmm. Yeah, I saw him," the man said with a grating voice. "He went off down the street with some girl." He pointed. "That way."

"Thanks!" Sora said, turning back to the street.

The man got up and watched him run off into the crowd. "Anytime, Sora."

Sora pushed through the crowds down the street he looked down a turn and saw a pickup truck driving off with Denzel and a small group of other kids in the back.

"Oh crap," he muttered. He tried to push through the crowd again, but suddenly a huge surge of people came out of a shop that was closing. Sora found himself swept away by the huge group of people, and by the time he got back, the truck was long gone.

**Back at the church...**

Marline had finally passed out on one of the pews, every now and then releasing another green bubble from her mouth. Cloud had moved her and Kairi off the hard wood and into the flowers.

"I'm not sure how we're going to get them back..." Cloud said to Terra. "The bike isn't big enough for all of us, and three of us won't even be able to hold on."

"And..." Terra paused. "You said her name was Tifa, right?" Cloud nodded. "She's got a broken arm, so even if she was awake-"

"I know," Cloud cut her off. "We'll have to be smart about this..."

'Beep-beep!'

"Anyone in there? Don't make us break down your door, now!"

Cloud and Terra turned around to the church door. "Reno. Come in."

The doors opened and the red haired suited man walked in, a van visible behind him, with Rude in the driver's seat. "Ah! Glad to see you're in one piece!"

"Am I not supposed to be?" Cloud asked suspiciously, his hand ever so slightly moving towards his sword.

"We figured Kadaj's crew would have hit this place already," Reno said, looking around at the destroyed pews and the human-shaped indentions in the walls. "... Well, someone hit this place."

"No one you know," Cloud said. "As much as I hate to ask you, mind giving us a lift back to my place?"

"Oh, now we're supposed to help you," Reno mocked. "What ever, Mr. Ex-soldier. But ain't you got a bike?"

"... I said we got hit."

"... Aaaaaahhhhhh. We got some buddies out of it, huh?"

"If you touch one of them-" Cloud snarled.

"Don't pop a blood vessel, I'm an honorable man!" Reno said. "Except when I'm drinking. Then I'm anything but."

**Outside the city...**

Noir stood on the edge of the cliffs yet again, watching as the sun became but a sliver on the horizon. He looked down to his left at Rinoa, who had been sitting with her legs dangling off the cliff, watching the sun set alongside him. She had fallen asleep, her head resting against his leg. He carefully knelt down and picked her up, gently placing her head on his shoulder and turning back towards the fire pit and Rinoa's bed. He glanced back out at the desert one more time, and saw a truck streaking away from the city.

He smiled and continued to walk towards the camp. He laid Rinoa back down on the bed and pulled the covers over her. He snapped his fingers and the fire came to life, it's black flame instantly warming the area.

He sat down next to the fire and gazed into it intently. After a few moments, a face appeared.

"Noir," Maleficent said. "How are things going?"

"Poorly," he replied bluntly. "Jacob and his crew have arrived much faster than I predicted. And so far, Kadaj has failed to take Jacob and Cloud out of the picture."

"I assume you've a fail safe in mind?" Maleficent questioned.

"I had to make one up, unfortunately," he replied. "But yes, I have a plan. I had Yazoo skip ahead to step number six. Loz and Kadaj are busy with Jacob and one of his friends at the moment, but they should be joining him shortly."

"You should remember that my goals do not hinge on the destruction of Jacob, Noir."

"I do not forget, but I believe that you do want Bliss of Heart. That is my area of expertise, so let me do my job." Noir paused for a moment. "Kairi was nearly taken by the Empire, but I managed to direct Cloud there in time to stop the kidnapping. Sora has been experiencing a much less... exciting day."

"He was not with Kairi?" Maleficent asked.

"No."

"..."

"Do you want them yet?

"I'm not ready yet. I don't want them here a second longer than I need them, lest they have the chance to escape."

"I've got everything figured out perfectly," Noir assured her. "Cloud is sure to go after Kadaj's group. If Jacob isn't down, he'll go too, and Sora is sure to go. I'll get Kairi while they're out, and Kadaj will deal with the others. They'll probably try and just capture Cloud and Jacob since they think they know something about their Mother. I've told them to capture Sora as well, which shouldn't be hard for them."

"Hm. I wish you good luck." She smirked. "It waits for no man."

"You kid me," Noir said. "You forget my deity?"

"Perhaps."

And with that, she faded away from view.

**Back in the city...**

Jacob pulled his blade out of the raft and let it fall to the ground with Kadaj's body. The raft started flopping around as the air escaped it, but Kadaj was doing anything but flopping around. His body lay still on the ground, his eyes staring blankly up at the sky. Jacob spat on him. "And for the record, I'm not interested in starting a friendship, ass hole!"

Suddenly, there was an explosion and Max flew into the air. He crashed right next to Jacob, and hastily got to his feet. Jacob looked at as the explosion cleared, and saw no sign of Loz.

"Nice, man," Jacob said. "You can hang with me anytime."

"Thanks," Max said, breaking heavily. "But if this is the stuff we'd do all the time, you can count me out."

Suddenly, a black glove shot out of nowhere and latched it's self around Jacob's neck. Kadaj rose to his feet, lifting Jacob a few feet into the air. Max instantly drew his sword and stabbed it through Kadaj's chest. It seemed to do nothing, and the wound Jacob had inflicted was releasing some sort of black vapor and was healing before their eyes.

Speaking of eyes, Jacob's were bulging out of his head.

Kadaj smirked at Max before he tightened his grip around Jacob's neck. Jacob gripped Kadaj's hands rigidly, his legs kicking madly under him. Max withdrew his sword and was about to strike again when Loz came out of nowhere and struck at him. Max ducked under the bulky man's arm and swung at the back of his opponent's head, but Loz ducked to the ground and rolled forward to avoid the attack which he shouldn't have been able to see. Max took the extra second to swing his sword at Kadaj's arm. Again, the teen didn't even react, his arm still strong and holding Jacob in the air.

"Any last words?" Kadaj asked Jacob smugly. Jacob looked out the corner of his eyes at Max, who was backing away from them, presumably because Loz was coming back for him. Jacob looked back at Kadaj and spit in his face.

"Bllugh!" Kadaj exclaimed, flailing backward. He dropped Jacob, who promptly stuck his foot out to the side to trip Loz up. The big man fell to the ground with a loud thud. Jacob grabbed his sword off the ground and motioned for a very impressed Max to follow him. Max nodded and the two of them took off down the street. Max quickly handed Jacob his gun back, and Jacob released the clip, grabbed another one out of his pants, threw it in the air, and caught it perfectly in the bottom of his gun.

"Stop showing off," Max panted as he glanced over his shoulder and saw that the other two were on their feet and charging after them.

"That wasn't showing off," Jacob said. He suddenly jumped into the air, flipped around, and, facing back at the other two, unloaded the entire clip before he hit the ground. And when he did hit the ground, he promptly jumped again, released the clip, let a clip fall out of one of his pockets, then caught _that_, and then shot at the two again, emptying another clip in less than three seconds.

"Now that... _that _was showing off," Jacob said as he landed next to the still in motion Max and continued running as if he had never even left the ground.

"I thought that thing was semi-auto?" Max asked. (A/N: Non-gun buffs: only one bullet per trigger pull)

"It is," Jacob replied as he reloaded the gun in a more conventional fashion.

As they bolted down the street, which had been deserted due to the massive brawl that they had been participating in, they saw a van and a motorcycle streaking their way.

The bike hit it's brakes and a man in a black coat leapt off, a sword in his hands. The van pulled closer and skidded to a halt, turning it's broad side towards them. Out of the passenger seat came a huge black man carrying a sub-machine gun. Max and Jacob ducked to the side as he sprayed lead towards Kadaj and Loz.

Cloud came out of the sky and landed right in the middle of the two brothers, and Rude quickly stopped shooting. He pointed Jacob and Max to the back of the truck and quickly climbed back into the car. Jacob and Max ran to the back, and the doors swung open to admit them. Jacob and Max both did a double take at the sight of Kairi and Rinoa both unconscious.

Cloud broke his sword into two parts and swung one blade at either of the brothers. They backed away from him and the vehicles slightly, but that wasn't a sign that they were going to give up any time soon. Cloud, however, wasn't exactly in the mood to fight with them, and took one last swipe at them before jumping back towards the vehicles. Before Loz and Kadaj had time to react, the van and bike had already shot off into the city, with a Terra clutching Cloud and Cloud clutching a sleeping Marline.

**At Seventh Heaven...**

The two vehicles pulled up in front of the bar. Cloud dismounted and shoved the keys into his coat before taking up Marline's tiny form in his arms. Terra got off and looked up at the bar. "This it?"

"Yeah," Cloud answered, approaching the door. Jacob and Max got out of the van, with Jacob carrying Kairi. Rude followed shortly with Tifa, and Reno stayed in the van. Cloud balanced Marline against his chest with one hand effortlessly as he used the other to open the door.

Sora was at the bar with his face in his hands, elbows down. He heard the door and looked up instantly, his head snapping into position so fast that it almost looked like he had broken his neck.

"Cloud!" he yelled. He jumped up from the bar and ran to the door. "Cloud, I'm sorry, I was stupid to let him out, I called Tifa twenty times, but she never answered-"

"Sora!" he yelled. Sora stopped. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Sora said hastily. "I saw him get in a truck and they just took him away!"

"Sora, who did they take away?" Cloud asked hastily, suddenly becoming fearful of what he was about to hear.

"Denzel. Cloud, I don't know if they forced him or if he went willingly, but I tried to get to him first but he was already going-"

Cloud handed Marline to Sora. "Take her up to her room," he ordered. Sora nodded nervously and went upstairs. Cloud turned back to the street. Terra was standing directly behind him, and apparently Sora hadn't even noticed her. "You know him?" Cloud asked.

She looked up at him. "... Yeah. And Kairi too, but I... I didn't think to mention it-"

"It's fine," Cloud told her absently as he pushed past her and walked up to Reno. "Someone kidnapped Denzel."

"The orphan who's staying with you?" he asked. Cloud nodded. "Rude and I are on it!"

Rude was behind Max and Jacob as they entered the door, and he turned around at the sound of his name. "On what?"

"One of his kids got swiped!" Reno announced. "We're gonna get to the bottom of it!"

Rude turned back to the door. "Hmm. Just a second." He stepped inside and put Tifa down in a chair at one of the tables before he came back out. "Let's ride." He quickly got into the passenger seat.

Reno looked out at Cloud as he started the engine. "Got any details on the napping in question?"

** Later...**

After Sora gasped in shock at Terra, Jacob and Max's presence, yelled at everyone when he found out that Kairi had been injured _again_, gave Reno and Rude the few details on Denzel's disappearance, the suited duo were off and Sora was ready to bombard everyone with questions.

"Who attacked her? How bad was it? Why didn't you do something? How long has she been out?"

"Shut up..." Jacob muttered, a hand on his forehead. "You're giving me a headache."

"She was attacked by an agent of the Empire, it was hell, I wasn't there, and I have no idea," Cloud answered in a perfect monotone. Terra looked nervously between the two of them as Max stifled laughter. Jacob would have been laughing as well if he didn't have a migraine coming on.

"... Did she... communicate with you at all?" Sora asked.

"She just asked if I was Cloud," he answered. "I was surprised at first when she didn't recognize me. Tifa told me that she forgot everything, though."

"Did you say anything to her that would have suggested that you knew her?" Sora asked hastily. Jacob looked at Sora out the corner of his eye inconspicuously.

Cloud probed Sora questioningly for a few moments before he said, "I said that I was surprised she didn't recognize me. Then I said that she was a bit young at the time... and then she blacked out."

"Crap." Sora looked over at Kairi, who was laying down in the booth next to them. Her eyes didn't appear to be moving, but he wasn't taking any chances...

He got up and went to her side, and hastily started shaking her. "Kairi, wake up now. Kairi, you agreed that you would wake up..."

**In Kairi's mind...**

_"Xehanort," Braig said. "Stop gazing at her in that manor. She is the Princess."_

_ Kairi looked up at Xehanort to see just how he was staring at her, but he had already looked up at Braig. "... Apologies."_

_ "Apologize to_ her._" _

_ Xehanort looked down at Kairi, who was still in his arms. His yellow eyes seemed to bore into her. "I'm sorry, your majesty."_

_ Kairi was momentarily mesmerized by him before she shook her head and blurted out. "I need to see Ansem! Jacob's in twouble!"_

_ "Ansem is a very busy man, little girl!" Even said. "You don't simply come barging into his office! Is that what you were planing to do?"_

_ "Hey, give her a break!" Braig said, shoving Even playfully. "She's little, what's she gonna do?" He looked at Kairi. His eyes were yellow as well, but for some reason, Kairi wasn't intimidated by him. "Where's Jacob at? And what's wrong?"_

_ "H-he's in my woom and he's cowghing and on the floor and-"_

_ "Even," Braig said. "Take Xehanort up there and you two get started." He looked at Xehanort and smirked. "He still needs to be introduced, doesn't he?"_

_ Xehanort carefully placed Kairi on the ground before he and Even walked off down the hall._

_ "Come on, Princess, I'll take you to Ansem," Braig said. She nodded as he took her hand and lead her down the halls._

_ "I... I've met you befowe," Kairi said. _

_ "Yes, you have," Braig replied. "A few weeks ago, your father brought you down here. Remember?"_

_ "... Your name... is Bwaig," Kairi mispronounced. _

_ "Braig."_

_ "That's what I said. Bwaig."_

_ "No no. Brrraaaig."_

_ "Bwwwaaaig."_

_ Braig laughed, and Kairi giggled a bit too. She decided that she liked Braig. The other two scared her. But even though he had a patch eye and scars, for some reason, Braig made her feel safe._

_ They came to Ansem's study. Braig opened to door without knocking and the two walked in to hear Ansem arguing with someone in the next room. They both walked through what looked like it should have been part of the wall and into another huge open room. Kairi took a moment to stare at the glass floor before she changed her attention to the massive chamber that seemed to stretch out forever before her._

_ Braig let her hand go as she ran to the railing and gazed out at the area. "Don't fall over the edge, kid," Braig laughed as he walked past her and into another room, where Ansem was in a heated argument with... a computer. Kairi wasn't paying lots of attention, but she did hear a bit of it..._

_ "Tron, I don't care! I'm uploading the MCP and you've no say in it."_

_ "As I keep telling you User Ansem, he has already taken over the system once. I'd rather not give him the chance to do it again."_

_ "Look, if anything goes amiss, just inform me as soon as possible and I'll rip out his programing. Alright?_

_ "Ansem," Braig said, announcing his presence._

_ "We will finish this later, Tron," Ansem said angrily. He looked up from the console and at Braig. "What is it?"_

_ "Jacob is having another attack. I already sent Even and the new guy up." _

_ Ansem looked at Kairi, who was still occupied with gaping out at the room. He looked back at Braig. "Stay here with her. She needn't see this." He swiftly left the room, Kairi barely even noticing he had been there and left._

_ Braig looked at the computer. "What was he so pissed off about?"_

_ "He is trying to upload a program called the Master Control Program, or MCP, to the system. From past experience I can say that this program is corrupt and is liable to take over the system from any given user."_

_ "And why doesn't he care, Tron?"_

_ "You'll have to ask him, User Braig. I have so far been unable to conceive a logical answer." He paused. "By the way, who are you staying here with?"_

_ "Princess Kairi."_

_ "Princess Kairi? I still haven't had the chance analyze her yet. Would you mind?"_

_ "Not at all," Braig replied. "Just... be gentle with her."_

_ "Of course," Tron said. "Princess Kairi!"_

_ Kairi looked away from the room and towards the computer. "... Who-?"_

_ "It's the computer, your Majesty," Braig told her._

_ "... The... computwer?"_

_ "That is correct, your Highness," Tron said. A hologram projection suddenly came out of the digitizer. Kairi jumped slightly in surprise. "There is no reason to be frightened, your Highness. My name is Tron. I'm a program who lives inside the computer and protects in from evil."_

_ Kairi slowly inched her way towards him, both Braig and Tron watching in amusement. Kairi walked up to him and tried to touch his leg, but found her hand went straight through. She drew it back in shock, and after a moment, giggled._

_ "I'm not really here, you see," Tron said, kneeling down. "I'm just a 3D video projection from that device over there," he said, pointing towards the beam. Kairi didn't seem to interested in the specifics as she shoved her hand right through Tron's face. "Hey, cut that out!" Tron laughed, swatting at her arm with his not-existent hands. She laughed at the sight of the transparent blue arms passing through her._

"Kairi, wake up now. Kairi, you agreed that you would wake up..."

Sora.

Again.

Tron, Braig, and the computer room started to fade out of view.

"... Wasn't exactly learning anything anyway, I suppose..."

The dream vanished, when she opened her eyes, she was in Seventh Heaven, with Sora hovering over her.

Sora heaved a sigh of relief. "At least you woke up this time... Were you even dreaming?"

Kairi hesitated for a moment. "... Yeah, but... it wasn't about anything important, I suppose..."

Kairi sat up as Sora backed off a bit to give her room. Jacob came over and stood next to them. "What's this?"

Sora thought about it for a moment before he figured out what would sound most sophisticated. "We found out that my voice can break through her dreams and she can regain self-awareness. She had a dream last night, and I tried to wake her up, but she resisted and went back into it. She woke up a bit later, and I made her agree that she'd wake up next time."

"Why are you concerned with her having dreams?" Jacob asked.

"No, I'm talking about the dreams that are actually her memories," Sora replied.

"I knew what you were talking about."

Sora and Kairi both looked at him oddly while Cloud, Max and Terra tried to work out what was happening from the other side of the room. "... But... aren't the dreams dangerous?" Kairi asked nervously.

"Did Rinoa tell you that?" Jacob asked. He smirked. "Not surprised."

"What's going on?" Cloud asked.

Jacob turned back to the other three. "Kairi has a seal on some of her memories. Specifically, everything that happened to her while she was still living on Radiant Garden." When Terra gave him an odd look, he said, "I'll give you the details later."

"Every time she meets someone whom she knew from before, and they actually tell her that they knew her, memories come back to her," Sora said. He grabbed Jacob's shoulder and turned him around. "She had a dream last night, and she hadn't met anyone. What's up with that?"

"I'm no expert, but I'd wagger that she came in close contact with someone she knew on the way down to the world," he replied in a 'I know something you don't know' way.

"Who?" Sora demanded, with Kairi shrinking back slightly at his ferocity. She was feeling more and more like a thing than a person.

"Hmm... from the magnitude of the Darkness which swallowed you, I'd say Noir."

Sora's eye twitched.

"Noir?" Max asked. "... Rinoa... when we were together, she yelled that name and went crazy. These massive wings shot out of her back and knocked me off the building we had been stuck on."

Jacob put a hand to his chin in thought as Sora continued to suppress his anger.

"... Why did Rinoa do that?" Kairi finally asked.

"Your sister is a so-called Sorceress, Kairi," Jacob replied. "One lives at a time... in theory. They have massive power and mastery over magic." He looked at Terra. "An extremely skilled Sorceress would perhaps be even more powerful than an Esper." He looked back to Kairi. "Your sister suppressed her powers inside of herself about seven years ago. As far as I know (and I know rather far), she hasn't utilized them since them."

"... Why now?" Kairi continued.

"She doesn't like Noir very much."

"She does now."

They looked at Cloud, who's head was hung low. "... He... he has her."

Jacob's jaw shifted slightly and he blinked. His voice was obviously repressing something vicious. "What." The tone wasn't even a question.

"... I saw Noir on the cliffs outside of the city. Rinoa..." Cloud looked up at Jacob. "She's younger."

There was a knock on the door. Cloud got up and answered. Reno and Rude were waiting for them. "Kadaj and his gang abducted the kid," Reno said. "And a bunch of others as well. All of them had the Stigma."

"Coincidence?" Cloud asked fiercely.

"Doubtful," Rude said. "Kadaj had a bit of a talk with our boss. Seems like the Stigma has a purpose, and whatever it is, they have something to do with it."

"Where are they?" Cloud asked.

"The Forgotten City," Rude replied.

Jacob turned to Max. "Call everyone and tell them to go back to the ship. Except for Squall. Tell him that Rinoa is in the cliffs and needs his help."

Max gave him an inquisitive look, but nodded and reached for his communication device. Sora and Kairi looked to him, and the former asked, "But if Rinoa is as bad ass as you said she was and she got beaten down by Noir-"

"Noir isn't going to be there," Jacob replied. He turned to Cloud and the other two, who had been listening. "Cloud, you and Sora are going after the kids. Max, Terra, Kairi and I will stay here with Marline and Tifa."

Kairi tilted her at him. "What's going on?"

"Denzel's been kidnapped," Sora and Cloud replied at the same time. Kairi's hand shot to her mouth.

"But you didn't say why Noir won't be there," Sora pressed.

"And that's where the risky part comes in," Jacob said. He looked to Kairi, who was still sitting in the booth. "Hey Kairi, you know that you were an acquaintance of Tifa's while you were on Radiant Garden, right?"

"What?" Kairi yelled, looking to Tifa's unconscious body on one of the tables before her eyes closed and she passed out again.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU-?" Sora screamed, looking away from Jacob to wake her again. He stopped short when he heard a gunshot, and the cushion directly above Kairi suddenly featured a bullet hole and was seeping stuffing. Sora turned slowly and looked at Jacob, who's gun was still smoking and pointing directly at the Keybearer's head.

"Once you're gone, Noir won't be able to resist a vulnerable Kairi, especially if he thinks I'm elsewhere," Jacob said, gun still raised. "He'll think that I'm with you two rescuing the kids. He'll swoop in and try and get her hands on Kairi. Squall can go and get Rinoa easily that way. Max, Terra and I will protect Kairi, and if the need arrises, Marline. You and Cloud should be more than enough to rescue the kids." He looked away from Sora for a split second and towards Cloud. "Sound like a plan?"

Cloud nodded just as Sora pounced on Jacob and knocked the gun from his hands. He shoved Jacob to the ground and punched him hard across the face. Cloud and Max were instantly upon him and prying him off of Jacob.

The two restrained Sora as he violently struggled to escape their grasp. Jacob stood and wiped blood from his lip in a very uncaring way. He knelt down and picked up his gun, hit the safety, and shoved it haphazardly into his pants. "What's wrong with you?" Sora yelled. "What are you trying to do?"

"I thought I was rather thorough-"

"Shut UP!" Sora screamed, lifting himself up on Max's and Cloud's arms and swiftly kicking them both in the groin. Max crumpled back, and while Cloud didn't seem effected, Sora was able to escape with only one arm holding him. He ran to Jacob again and this time summoned his Keyblade and swung at the man's head. He ducked, and as Sora whizzed past him, Jacob popped back up and struck Sora hard in the neck.

The Keyblade vanished as Sora collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

**A few hours later...**

Cloud's bike shot through the illuminated forest. It was a few hours past midnight, but the trees gave off a radiant glow, making Cloud's glowing headlights almost unnecessary. Sora had woken up an hour earlier with a bad disposition, but he couldn't do anything about it since he was already on the bike.

"Why did you hit Jacob?" Cloud asked after about half an hour of riding in silence.

"... Do you know what could happen to Kairi?" he asked.

"No. Enlighten me."

"If the seal containing her memories is broken all the way, Noir could penetrate her mind and possess her. Jacob's supposed to be protecting her, and now he's-"

"Has Jacob ever given you reason to think that he wouldn't protect Kairi?" Cloud cut in as he looked over his shoulder at Sora. His monotone voice seemingly dominating the the night as the only sound other than the engine.

"... No-"

"Then don't worry," Cloud said, looking forward again. "Don't even try and comprehend how Jacob thinks. I've known him for a while, and trust me, working out what's going on inside him is just going to give you a headache." He paused. "Jacob is a puzzle of epic proportions."

_"And Kairi's trying to solve it,"_ Sora thought angrily. _"Cloud should talk with her. That'd be a second opinion that Jacob shouldn't be looked into, and then maybe she'd stop trying to do whatever it is she's doing..."_

"Hey Cloud," Sora said. "Do you think you could tell Kairi that when we get back?"

No response.

"Cloud?... Cloud?"

**Elsewhere...**

"How are you doing, Cloud?"

Cloud resisted the urge to look over his shoulder. "... I'm more concerned with how you're doing."

She laughed. "You already know the answer to that question. So why bother asking?"

He bowed his head. "I... just want you to know... well, that I... cared..."

"I know you do," she said. "Kind of hard to deny, actually, seeing as you've been sneaking aboard the Shera just to see little old me."

"... I'm... sorry I can't save you."

"What are you sorry for?" she asked. "I'm the one who should be sorry."

"... What?"

She giggled. "I was always asleep whenever you came. I've been pretty rude to you."

He looked over his shoulder. "Aerith, do you-?"

"No... I'm Sora, Cloud."

Cloud stared at him blankly for a moment before he looked back to the road. Sora's voice was heard behind him. "Are you okay, Cloud?"

Before he had the chance to answer, a gunshot cracked through the night. A bullet bounced off the side of the bike and few away from them into the night. Cloud hit a button and the panels on either side of the bike swung open. Sora only had a moment to admire the massive collection of swords before Cloud had drawn two and begun steering with his knees as he blocked the incoming shots. Sora looked over his shoulder and down at the three men who were standing threateningly in the middle of the road. Two of them were firing, and the other was simply standing by, observing.

"Sora, when I say go, you jump!" Cloud yelled. "Ready?"

"Sure!" Sora replied, rising up a bit and preparing himself.

However, neither of them were prepared for what happened next.

Kadaj came forward, drawing his sword. And suddenly, out of the trees, a group of children leapt into view and stood like a brick wall in Cloud and Sora's way.

"J-jump!" Cloud yelled in surprise. Sora obliged and leapt off... and went face first into a tree.

Cloud skidded to a halt, and his motorcycle fell over. He was thrown off and he landed on his back in the middle of the group of children, who were all standing up straight and moving to form a circle around him. Cloud started to rise, but he suddenly found Kadaj's double-sword was positioned right next to his neck.

Sora pealed himself off of the tree and fell back to the ground rather awkwardly. He looked up again just in time to avoid being punched in the face by Loz. Sora ducked under the blow and rolled off to the side, the sound of gunshots suddenly filling the air. He popped up and ducked again as a bullet flew right over his head. He summoned the_ Kingdom Key_ into his hands and expertly began deflecting the shots with skill he didn't even know he possessed. He blocked one last shot before he dodged out of the way to avoid Loz, who had jumped into the air and taken a dive at him. Sora swung back behind him in an attempt to hit his opponent, but he missed by an inch. He turned around and lunged at Loz, who ducked under Sora's blade and tried to uppercut at Sora, who bent backward at the last second to avoid the punch. He twisted around as he heard a gunshot crack through the air and blocked Yazoo's shot. He jumped to the side again before Loz had a chance to land a second strike.

Cloud glared up at Kadaj, who was smirking down at him, gripping his sword rather loosely. "Glad you could join us, Brother!" Kadaj practically screamed, a crazy gleam in his eyes. "We were just talking about you!"

Cloud looked around at the children, seeing that their eyes were all hollow looking, and their expressions blank. Though the thing that frightened him most was that Denzel was among them, looking down at Cloud blankly. "I'm only here for the kids," Cloud said vehemently.

"Well, your plans are about to change," Kadaj said. He reared back and kicked Cloud hard in the chest, sending him rolling backwards. Cloud looked up just as Kadaj swung jumped upon him and swung his sword at him. Cloud rolled out of the way and drew his sword with lightning speed. He swung at Kadaj, but had to stop short when one of the children jumped between the two of them.

"Problems, Brother?" Kadaj asked from behind the girl who had jumped out. Cloud scowled at him, his sword but an inch from the girl's face. He had barely stopped in time to avoid killing her. He drew back and sidestepped around the girl, taking another swing at Kadaj. Kadaj backed away a few steps as the girl again stepped between them. Cloud backed away from her and momentarily phased out, trying to think of some way he could possibly go about kicking Kadaj's annoying ass in. He was pulled back to reality when three of the kids charged up to him, two of them punching him in the chest and the other kicking him in the groin. Cloud crumpled backwards from the blows that the children probably wouldn't have been able to deliver with such force if they hadn't been under a spell. Cloud looked up as the kids broke away and let Kadaj run at Cloud. He lifted his sword just in time to block Kadaj's strike. "Afraid of a few casualties along the way, Brother?" Kadaj asked. "Well, I'm disappointed. I wanted a bit of bloodshed in this pale forrest." He drew back from Cloud, and the three children jumped in front of her again. Kadaj snapped his fingers shortly, and to Cloud's horror, Denzel stepped out with the other three, drew a knife, and held it to his own neck.

Sora ran towards one of the trees, jumping up into it's low branches. He jumped again, grabbing a higher branch, swinging on it and hurling himself up higher into the tree. Yazoo leapt up after him, and Loz charged to the trunk of the tree, slamming the device on his arm into it, shattering through the trunk like glass. The tree began to topple over, with Sora and Yazoo fighting on it's branches.

Sora had reached a particularly long branch was was backing towards the edge as Yazoo joined him on the same branch and opened fire on him. Sora blocked each of the shots, some of them flying out into the air and others chipping away at the branch. Sora reached the end of the branch and jumped into the air, pointing his Keyblade at Yazoo. "Take this!" he yelled as a huge ball of light appeared around the tip of the blade. It exploded, sending tiny beams of light careening towards Yazoo. (A/N: Ragnarok) The gunman shot each of them out of the air expertly before he jumped off the tree after Sora, who had already moved on to the next.

Loz watched from the ground as his brother leapt away from the falling tree. He backed up a bit as the tree hit the ground before he ran over to the next tree and jumped up into the branches to participate in the fight.

Cloud stood mesmerized by the sight of Denzel with the knife. He couldn't think of anything that he could do at this point... except surrender.

_"No... can't do that."_

"My my, now here I was thinking that you didn't even have a conscience," Kadaj laughed. "Going around steeling people's mothers, that's just not right, you know..."

"I don't know anything about your mother!" Cloud yelled angrily. He regretted it as Denzel pressed the knife closer to himself, drawing a small trickle of blood.

"Ah a ah," Kadaj mocked, shaking his finger at Cloud. "Now, are you absolutely sure you don't know anything about her?"

Cloud looked between Denzel and Kadaj, Kadaj and Denzel. "... I... I know where she is," he said reluctantly.

"Really?" Kadaj asked. "Well, looks like Noir was wrong after all! He said that your friend Jacob was in possession of her." He snapped his fingers, and Denzel lowered the knife, which was bloodied up. A long thin streak across his neck seeped blood slowly, but it didn't look very deep. "Now, Cloud," Kadaj continued. "Perhaps you'd like to tell me exactly where I could find my Mother?"

"... Noir."

"Excuse me?"

"Noir," Cloud said, forming a story as quickly as he could. "He's trying to mislead you. He's had your mother this whole time."

Kadaj looked at him suspiciously. "What reason would he have for deceiving us?"

"Don't you know?" Cloud asked. "You never make a deal with the devil."

**Several hours earlier, back at Seventh Heaven...**

Kairi lay on Denzel's bed, which was in the same room as Marline's. Hopefully they would be easier to defend that way. Tifa was awake, and sitting downstairs with Max and Terra, who were something of a first line of defense. Jacob was upstairs in the kids' room, incase Noir went for a direct attack.

But Jacob doubted that he would. "He's always had a flare for the dramatic," he had told everyone. "And he sure enjoys a good fight."

He was sitting on a stool at Kairi's side, staring down at her face intently. Almost an hour passed, and it became night. The room became cold, and the pale blue light of the moon shone in on the room.

Jacob put a hand on his face in thought, gazing down at her as though trying to solve some puzzle.

A really hard one.

"Kairi..." he muttered ever so softly. "... I always said... that you would never admit when you were wrong... I guess I'm a bit of a hypocrite." He reached out and stroked her hand softly. "... I... I'm sorry that... life turned me into what I am. I... I see the big picture. That was what I always wanted. To put things into perspective. But... to do that... I have to stop caring about you as a person..." He shook his head. "I can't. It hurts too much." He paused, listening to her soft breathing. "I'm weak. I can't cope with this shit..." He closed his eyes tight, letting memories of past years flash before his eyes. "... I'm sorry. I wish things could go back to the way they were. You were so innocent. And I-" The image of another red haired girl flashed through his mind. "... I wouldn't have to think about her day and night..." He opened his eyes and looked at her again. "We were like a siblings. You know that? You loved me almost as much as you loved Rinoa... Maybe if I hadn't changed so much, it could be like that again..." He took his hand off of Kairi's and clutched the skin above where his Heart was. "But I can't change back... it's impossible. I wish I could tell you everything... But, you wouldn't understand. Would you, Kairi?"

Kairi cringed slightly. Be it from a dream or from his words, Jacob couldn't tell.

Suddenly, a shadow flashed by the window. He looked up, but he had missed it's source. He stood from the stool and drew twin pistols, pointing one at the door and one and the window.

"Bring it, you (R-Rated)er."

** Downstairs...**

The door to the bar burst open. Tifa instinctively kicked the table they were sitting at towards the doorway. The table exploded into splinters of wood, and then caught fire on the floor. Noir stepped in, the moonlight casting an eerie shadow on him as his wavy blond hair wiped about in the wind that was coming in from outside.

Terra rose from her chair and held her hands up, pointing towards the man. "Stopaga!" Noir stood resolute, and the spell went off around him, but he shook his head playfully, showing that the spell had no effect.

"An Esper," Noir said, his face so shadowed that they couldn't see his mouth move. "Jacob always seems to finds the most amazing company."

"Shut up!" Max yelled, drawing his sword. "You're not getting any farther than here!"

"Really?" Noir lifted his head, and his eyes suddenly began go glow, their red light illuminating his face. He smiled. "How laughable."

**Outside the city...**

Squall peaked out around a boulder towards the edge of the cliff. He could see the black fire, and a small, makeshift bed next to it. They were barely visible in the night. He stepped out and, gunblade at the ready, approached cautiously. He knelt down next to the bed, scanned the area one more time to make sure he was alone, and then carefully removed the sleeping Rinoa from the bed. He put his sword away and took her in his arms, slowly walking off down the winding path that lead back to the flat desert.

**Several hours later, back at the Forgotten City...**

Sora slashed the branch he was standing on, jumping back as it fell. Yazoo jumped as well, barely making it to the branch.

"You guys are really starting to tick me off!" Sora screamed, casting a quick Reflect as Yazoo fired a few rounds at him again.

"_You _seem to be ticking off Noir quite a bit," Yazoo said as he continued advancing on Sora, reloading his guns.

"Just how well do you know Noir?" Sora asked, backing up as well, but readying his Keyblade. "I haven't had the chance to meet him yet."

"Are you quite sure?" Yazoo mocked, shoving the last few bullets into his second gun. "He seems to know a lot about you and your friends."

Sora stopped backing up and lowered his Keyblade ever so slightly. "W-wha-?"

Yazoo fired a shot from both guns, and Sora barely moved in time to avoid being shot in the head. He lifted his weapon again to block another two shots, he was too distracted by Yazoo to hear Loz running up behind him. The huge man jumped on Sora and wrapped his huge arms around him, and the two went flying off the tree and towards the ground below. Sora cast Reflect again, blasting Loz off of him. He twisted in the air and landed on his feet, and was instantly on the defensive again as Yazoo had jumped down as well and had already started shooting again.

"We're going to have to take you to him, you know," Yazoo said, still shooting. "He told us he wanted to see you."

"Really?" Sora asked, standing firmly in place and blocking the shots. "Tell him to meet with me face to face."

"That's probably not the brightest thing you've ever said," Yazoo said, smirking. He charged at Sora and swung both of the guns at him. Was about to block when Loz came out of nowhere and kicked him in the back. Sora jerked and his Keyblade flew out of his hand. Yazoo brought his guns down on Sora just as he noticed that they were razor sharp on the top, like knives.

Sora braced himself for impact just as a huge red nothingness swooped down out of the sky and knocked him out of the way. The red whatever it was swooped low over Sora's body and made a huge circle around it, concealing him from the two brothers. Yazoo fired a few rounds into it, only for three to fly out and strike him perfectly in the chest. Whatever kind of gun had just been fired, it had enough strength to fling Yazoo into the air and backwards.

The redness lifted off the ground and shot off again, with Sora nowhere to be seen. The form swooped down amongst the kids and swallowed up Cloud before firing a few shots at Kadaj. The kids didn't move in time to block the shots, but Kadaj somehow deflected them with his sword. The redness shot off into the air, apparently taking Cloud with it, and disappeared into the night.

** Earlier, at Seventh Heaven...**

Noir walked calmly up the stairs to the second floor, the subtle moaning of the unconscious Terra the only noise he could make out. His feet didn't make any sound as the hit the wood that would have normally creaked under his weight. He reached to top and walked to the door he felt the most Light coming from. He opened it.

A gunshot rang out, and he felt himself thrown back out of the room. He heard the shriek of a little girl, and he felt the underside of someone's shoe colliding with his face.

"Don't move," Jacob ordered, pointing his gun directly down at Noir's chest. "Or I'll blow your Heart out."

"If I still have one," Noir pointed out, his voice muffled by Jacob's shoe.

"Let's find out," Jacob said simply, firing a round into Noir's chest. The bullet simply hit the floor, though, as Noir vanished into thin air.

"Wha-what's going-?"

Jacob turned around at see Marline standing in his door. Even though she was tilting from side to side and a little tipsy, she looked scared to death by Jacob's presence in the house.

"It's okay, Marline," he said softly, shoving both of his guns back into his pants. "I'm a friend of Cloud and Tifa's."

She pointed at the spot where Noir had been moments ago. "W-w-Who was-?"

"Someone you don't ever want to see again," he said abruptly, walking past her to take a quick look a Kairi. She looked as if she had tensioned up, but was otherwise undisturbed. He put a hand to her head, and a soft blue aura seemed to seep from his palm. After he did whatever it was he was doing, he removed his hand, which stopped glowing, and lifted Kairi up out of the bed gently. He walked past the door again, and jerked his head for Marline to follow. They walked downstairs, at the bottom of which Jacob had to step over Terra, who was moaning in pain, and might had been talking to herself. Jacob quickly put Kairi on the counter top and went back to Terra. He pulled an Elixir from one of his apparently bottomless pockets and held it in the air above her before he dropped it. It disappeared above her, and a golden glow surrounded Terra for a split second before it vanished.

Jacob waited to see if she would waken, but apparently she had been wounded a bit too much. He moved to the other two, who actually looked much worse off than her. Max's clothes had been so bloodied that it looked like they'd been soaked it the fluid, and Tifa looked like she'd be screwed into the wall by something which had since been removed from her body. He quickly went to her side and examined the stab wound, which appeared to be caused by a blade of some sort. He drew two Elixirs and used them both on her, and the skin started to grow back, and her Heart started beating faster, sending more blood through her body.

He then turned to Max, who's sword was laying at his side, also covered in blood. Apparently he had been felled by his own blade. Jacob used another Elixir quickly before he felt Marline tugging at his pants. He looked down at her.

"Are they gonna be okay?" she asked worriedly. She looked back at Tifa, who's wound still hadn't closed fully.

Jacob quickly turned her away. "You don't need to worry about any of them," Jacob said softly. "They're going to be fine. Now just... don't look at them again."

"Bu-but... Tifa's-" she slurred, trying to turn and look at her guardian again.

Jacob held her firmly and held up his hand. His fingertips suddenly released a soft purple aura. Marline's eyes locked on the light, and her mind went blank.

"Go to sleep," Jacob said softly. "And forget you saw any of this."

Marline continued to stare at the light for a moment, her head bobbing up and down as her eyes started to close. It only took a few seconds for her to close her eyes and fall over into Jacob's arms. The light on Jacob's finger vanished, and he carefully laid the girl out on one of the soft booth seats before he turned back to the other four.

**Somewhere near the Forgotten City...**

Cloud sat against one of the glowing trees as Sora paced back and forth in front of him. A little ways away stood a man clad in red with a gold-plated glove and golden plated armored shoes- the same man who told Sora where Denzel went.

The man's name was Vincent Valentine. No one really wanted to explain how he had the ability to fly around and look like a red ghost, or why he looked like a bad-ass vampire. Cloud hadn't said anything except for Vincent's name, and Vincent hadn't said anything at all.

"Uh-" Sora said. They both looked up at him. Sora suddenly got an even greater feeling of awkwardness, but he decided to speak anyway. "... What exactly is going on with these three, guys?"

Vincent walked towards Sora, his boots clanking as he stepped. "I've been watching them for a while," Vincent said. "It seems that they've some sort of close relationship to Sephiroth, even if they don't know it."

"Sephiroth?" Sora asked. He looked to Cloud. "What happened to him?"

"..."

"Cloud?"

"..."

"I think that Kadaj and his friends might be Sephiroth's Nobodies," Vincent said after giving Sora a moment to understand that he wasn't going to get anywhere. "Sora, what do you know about Nobodies?"

Sora looked up at him. "How do you know my name?" he asked suspiciously, his hand twitching slightly, as though he was preparing to summon his Keyblade.

"Kadaj and his gang are trying to get through to you, Cloud," Vincent said, turing away from Sora. "They think you have-"

"Their Mother," Cloud said, looking up. "I know. Just what do they mean?"

"They want Jenova's head."

Cloud cringed slightly, and Sora just looked between the two of them, completely lost.

"So..." Cloud said. "What do they think it can do for them?"

"Wait, hold on a second," Sora said, barging in. "What the heck is going on here?"

"Sora-"

"Cloud," Vincent said. "He might as well know. He's a Keybearer, he can help." Cloud grunted. "When Sephiroth was born, he was used in a freak experiment. He was injected with the DNA of an alien that was pulled up out of the ground. Thousands of years old. It was called Jenova. The calamity."

"... So... is that what makes him so strong?" Sora asked.

"Mostly," Vincent replied. "Cloud here shattered Sephiroth pretty bad a few years ago," Vincent said. "He's back again. But he can't become whole until he gets his hands on Jenova's head."

"Her head?" Sora asked, the image of a huge boubous green alien head popping into his mind.

"Jenova's body was destroyed... for the most part," Vincent said. "But that's beside the point." He looked back to Cloud. "Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo probably started forming right after you killed him the first time. The more real they get, the less real Sephiroth gets."

"... Then... why are those three trying to find the head?" Sora asked. "I mean, don't they want to remain real?"

"They don't know Sephiroth," Vincent said. "And they don't know what the head can really do. Sephiroth is in league with Noir, and he's probably asked Noir to... mislead the three."

"... So, what do we do?" Sora asked.

"The only other people they think know anything about the head besides Cloud are Rufus Shinra and your friend Jacob."

"I'd ask how you know Jacob, but I'm more interested in who the other guy is," Sora said.

"No one important," Cloud said before Vincent could reply. He stood up. "Sora, we're going back to Edge. That's where they're headed next."

"Cloud," Sora said. Cloud ignored him and started walking off again.

"We're going back to the bike," he said abruptly.

"Cloud, stop," Vincent said. Cloud halted in his tracks, but didn't turn. "... They've got leverage on you," he said. "Facing them directly may not be the best idea."

Cloud waited for a moment before he started walking off again. Sora and Vincent gave each other looks shortly before Sora followed him.

Hours later, at Edge...

The sun was coming up, again casting the bland, pale gray light over the city. Jacob was sitting in one of the booths, Kairi asleep next to him, her head on his shoulder. Marline was laying down next to him as well, her head against his leg. Terra had been the first to wake up, around five o'clock. She hadn't had much to say besides apologizing profusely for being unable to defend Kairi and Marline from Noir. He had Terra preform healing spells on both Tifa and Max, and soon the various wounds they had received were totally healed. After she had removed the bandages that Jacob had put around them, she had sat down opposite from him in the booth, and Jacob had brought Marline and Kairi as close to him as he could.

"... I... I didn't... disappoint you, did I?" Terra asked.

"You kidding?" Jacob asked, giving her a reassuring smile. "Men with more combat training than you have been killed by him in seconds." He paused, and they both stared at each other. "I... I'm sorry that I put you guys in the line of fire more than myself, though."

"... It's okay," Terra replied. "I don't really know much about these things..."

"Then I'll have to teach you," Jacob said. "We can't have people stepping all over you."

"... Do... do you know how much combat training I had?"

"Excuse me?"

"You... well... I was with the Empire, right?"

Jacob arched an eyebrow at her. "Well, yeah, but I already told you, I don't know what you di-"

"I was a weapon."

Jacob tried not to show any emotion at her sudden statement. "... How do you know this?"

"I knew Cloud," she said. "He had met me while I was under their control. I was a murderer." She paused and waited for him to respond. He didn't. "Are... are murderers... allowed to live?"

Jacob looked thoughtful, then shook his head. "No... no, I don't think it's allowed."

"... So... you've never killed someone?"

"Of course I have," Jacob replied. "... But... I can't live the same. No one can... not after they've killed someone."

Terra tried to keep a blank face, but Jacob could tell that she was freaking out on the inside.

"But, I don't think you ever chose to kill someone," Jacob continued. Terra tilted her head to the side curiously. "... Well, being under mind control shouldn't have changed who you are as a person at all. Doesn't matter how many people you killed while you were under their control. The people who controlled you are the ones who really killed people."

"... I should have fought it off-"

"You couldn't have," Jacob said. "You're weak, Terra. You can't fight. I almost envy you."

"... But... why? You're so strong, you stopped Noir all on your own, and he was so powerful..."

"I resent my power every day," Jacob told her. "I hate myself for being strong every single day."

Terra shook her head. "I still don't understand."

"You have to sacrifice to be strong. You have to give up a lot... People you care about... loved ones... yourself." Terra shivered slightly at the piercing gaze he was giving her. "You still have people you care about, even if you don't remember them. You're weak... and that means you can feel. I can't fell like other people do. Emotions don't just come to me. I have to force myself to fell things. Sometimes I don't know if I'm feeling the right thing. I... I don't know anymore."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Terra said, "Can you make me strong?"

Jacob looked at her with the same gaze had before. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Maybe not as strong as you, but... I want to be able to defend the people I care about. Whether I remember them or not."

Jacob nodded slowly. "Yeah... a normal kind of strong... I think I can do that."

**Elsewhere in the city...**

A huge monument to those who had died when Midgar was ruined was located in the center of the city. At the moment, there was a mob surrounding the area. Circling the monument was a huge ring of children, all with their heads down and all apparently unaware of what was happening around them. Some people were trying to make the children move, but all of them stood resolute before the monument, as though defending it against the mob.

Behind them stood Loz and Yazoo, both of whom were smirking out at the crowd. Some people were throwing things at them, and the few objects that contacted didn't seem to bother them at all.

They had been there for about ten minutes. Yazoo was getting rather bored, so he decided that setting a few of their wolf Heartless lose on the crowd would spice things up a bit.

After a few seconds of that, several bodies lay on the ground, a few lucky parents had grabbed their comatose children and sprinted off, and Loz and Yazoo were still just standing there.

"Well, someone is just gonna have to stop this party. What do you think, Rude?"

"I agree. This is out of hand."

Yazoo and Loz looked out into the crowd of fleeing people to see two men in suits walking towards them.

"You..." Yazoo drawled. "It's no use. We know that Mother is here!"

"Oh really?" Reno asked, resting his weapon on his shoulder.

"Yeah. This... this thing? Monument thing?" Loz said dumbly, gesturing towards it. "It's, like, in the center of the town. So everyone passes through here. And when Jacob shows up, we'll get mother from him.

"Jacob?" Reno asked, smiling. "Well, here I was thinking that Cloud had her. What a turn of events, eh Rude?"

"Hmm. I'll say," the black man droned.

"Don't play dumb with us," Yazoo said. "Noir knows that you know where Mother is. And if Jacob doesn't have it, we're coming for you next."

Reno smirked. "How about you just come for us now?"

**In a building, a few blocks away from the center of the city...**

"Kadaj," Rufus said. "I've got a question for you."

"I've got an answer."

Kadaj stood next to Rufus, who was still confined to his wheel chair. They were on a floor of an unfinished building, overlooking the city. From their vintage point, they could see the center of the city, even though they weren't right on top of it.

"You said you needed Jenova cells to be whole again. What did you mean by that?"

Kadaj paused. "Him," he replied simply. "He's coming back."

"Sephiroth. The nightmare."

"So they say."

"You mean..."

"I've never met Sephiroth," Kadaj admitted. "I just... I sense him there. It's unbearable to think that mother might want him more than..."

"Poor little Nobody."

Kadaj whirled on him. "It doesn't matter who she picks, you'll all meet the same end! Mother came to this planet after a long journey. To rid the cosmos of fools like _you_. But... you know as well as I do... nothing's changed since she got here." He looked away from Rufus again. "I have to change it to make her happy. If Mother willed it... I'd do anything for her."

"Heh..." Rufus chuckled. "The nightmare returns."

"As long as you exist the nightmares will come again and again."

Rufus shook his head, though Kadaj didn't see it. "The Light of his world courses back and fourth across the borders of life and death. If that is the truth of life, then history is bound repeat it's self. So bring your Senovas and your Sephiroths. It won't matter. We'll do as life dictates and stop you_ every single time_."

"Please, sir. Is that your excuse for going after Mother? You don't seem all that sorry."

Rufus laughed again, but softly. "Sorry? Why, I've never had this much fun in my life."

Kadaj turned around slowly to face the man shrouded in bandages. "Good. Then... let's put and end to all of this."

Suddenly, what looked like a silver orb in his arm began to glow. Waves of slivery light began to seep out of him. He held up his arm dramatically for a moment before spinning around and releasing the energies from him and shooting it up into the cloudy sky.

**Back at the monument...**

A few people in the fleeing crowd stopped and looked up at the sky. It was parting in a circle, lightning zapping back and forth inside the opening. Dark clouds began to lower, almost like a tornado. The clouds formed together in a massive winged monster. The huge form streaked down towards the city, it's wings so large, that they could be heard beating all the way on the ground. It swooped down and grabbed three random people out of the crowd with a single claw and crushed them violently.

Reno and Rude suddenly decided that they didn't want to be there anymore. They stopped charging at Loz and Yazoo and turned, each grabbing a few of the kids, who resisted rather pathetically, and ran off with them in their arms.

The monster landed on top of the memorial. It's mouth started to glow, and a ball of blue light began to form, slowly expanding out of it. He flapped up into the air and then shot a blast down at the monument, obliterating it and everyone around it. As bodies of children and people few into the air, Yazoo and Loz somehow rode the bast after the fleeing suits.

Denzel opened his eyes. He was on the ground, and he could hear people screaming all around him. He remembered everything, and he could still feel where he had cut himself that morning, but he was more concerned with how he had just survived the explosion.

Someone was on top of him. He shifted, and their arm their chest came off of his head. He slowly rose up, and saw that Sora was unconscious on his back.

He let Sora fall to the ground, glanced around at the carnage, and then watched in horror as a wolf Heartless leapt at him.

Suddenly, Cloud skidded in front of the two of them, a sword in his hand, as always. He slashed the Heartless in half, the body fading to a wisp of Darkness. He looked back at Denzel and Sora. "You okay?" Cloud asked. Denzel nodded, and glanced back at Sora, who was slowly waking up. "How about you?" Cloud asked as Sora got on his knees.

"... That... was... crap..." Sora panted. He looked at Denzel. "See if I save your ass again..."

"Denzel," Cloud said, gaining the boy's attention again. "Go back to Seventh Heaven. There are people there, tell them that they need to come here now. Understand?"

Denzel took one look up at the monstrosity before he looked back at Cloud and nodded. "Just... come back this time. Alright?"

Cloud nodded.

Denzel smiled in an unsure way before he turned and sprinted off through into the city.

Cloud offered Sora his hand, which he declined. Sora got up and swung his leg over the back of the bike again. He looked up at the sky and saw the Shera overhead. "Let's get this thing," Sora said. Cloud didn't respond other than hitting the gas and chasing off after the beast, which had flown into a yet-to-be-built district filled with huge spires of metal construction outline.

**On the Shera...**

The ship hovered over the metal spires as the monster landed on one, firing it's blue shots down into the city.

Three of the crew were standing at the ready, waiting for Merlin to open the hatch from the another room.

"Now you lot be careful down there," Merlin said over the intercom. "I'm dropping you in three... two... one..."

Suddenly, the floor opened, and Cid, Donald, and Goofy dropped down into the air over the monster.

"Is this really the only option?" Goofy yelled over the wind.

"Who cares?" Cid yelled, a huge spear in his hand. "Let's kill some monster!"

"Yeah!" Donald squawked. "Firga!" He sent a ball of fire careening down towards the beast, and when it impacted, it had no effect. The monster didn't even seem to notice it. "... Why am I here again?"

**On ground level...**

Cloud and Sora shot towards the spires, Sora already lifting up and summoning his Keyblade into his hands. When they got close enough, Cloud yanked the keys out and the two of them leapt off and onto the nearest pillar.

The monster looked down at them and charged up another shot. The monster shot at them, and they just barely jumped out in time before it exploded. They both jumped out on different sides, and onto different towers.

The monster looked between the two of them, trying to decide which one to shoot at, when suddenly Cid landed on top of him, stabbing his spear into the monster's head. The monster reared back, roaring violently. Donald and Goofy missed the creatures body, both being caught out of the air by Sora and Cloud respectively.

Cid drew his spear out of the monsters head and stabbed it back in again. The monster reared back, throwing Cid off. He fell through the air, only to feel himself snatched out of the air by something... metal.

Cid was hoisted back up onto a beam of metal by a large, robotic hand. He looked at his rescuer and saw a huge black man with a mechanical right arm, which was reforming into a gatling gun.

"Eat this, son of bitch!" Barrett Wallace screamed, his gun arm blaring.

Cloud and Goofy flew into a huge pile of scrap metal, barely avoiding being skewered by the spikes. Cloud let go of the dog, who stood up and hurled his shield at the monster like a frisbee. It grazed along the creatures back, but it didn't seem to do anything.

Sora and Donald had a smoother landing on solid ground. Sora got off of Donald, and Donald instantly yelled, "What's the big idea?"

"What? Can you fly?"

"... Oh yeah..."

Sora shook his head at his former constant companion. Then, they both pointed their weapons at the monster.

"Fire or thunder?" Sora asked.

"Thunder."

"THUNDER!

Two blasts of lightning merged together, forming one huge bolt. It struck the beast, but he again didn't seem phased by it. Nor did it seem phased by the hundreds of bullets that a huge black man was pumping into it's chest.

"Do you mind if I tip the odds?"

Sora and Donald turned to see Vincent Valentine walking towards them. He drew a huge, triple barreled pistol out of his cloak. "Don't know how much I can do..."

"Anyone is welcome at this point, Vincent," Sora said. "That thing's invincible."

"Hmm. Doubtful."

Vincent hurled himself into the sky, unloading nine massive slugs into the monster's head.

"Who was that?" Donald asked.

"... I still don't know."

On the Shera...

Squall and Merlin stood over a sleeping Rinoa. Merlin was feverishly flipping through a spell book, trying to find anything that could reverse what Noir had done.

"... I thought you said you knew what to do," Squall barked.

"Well, I did, but Noir seems to have blocked me out in every way possible..." Merlin replied. "Magic isn't as simple as you simple attack users think..."

Squall looked down at Rinoa, then back at Merlin. "... Do you think there is any chance he overlooked something?"

"... Well... the biggest part of changing someone's age is the participation of victim- er, receiver... I guess..."

"And?"

"Well, if she would let someone she hated as much as Noir to do something like that, he must have performed some extremely strong magic on her mind."

Squall looked between the two of them again. "I'm going down. And I'm going to find him."

Merlin looked at him. "Are you sure?"

Squall didn't answer as he walked out of the room.

On the surface...

"Come on, Cid managed to hurt that thing by hitting it on the head," Sora said to Donald. "Lets get up in one of these towers and try and shoot something into the wound."

Donald nodded, and they both ran over to one of the spires. They carefully began scaling up the spire.

Cloud and Goofy had already gone up one, and had jumped onto the creature's wing. Cloud hacked at it, but to no avail. Goofy ran off onto the animal's back and... well, he suddenly realized that he couldn't do anything. So he decided to distract the monster.

He ran up to the creature's head and slammed his shield down on it's head, trying to draw it's attention. It worked, and the beast reared up again. Goofy slipped and fell, positioning his shield like a sled. Cloud was thrown off as the monster thrashed his wings, and he crashed to the ground.

Barrett and Vincent both fired at it's exposed neck, but it didn't seem to do much. The monster lowered back down and shot at the both of them, and they jumped out of the way at the last second.

Sora and Donald were about halfway up their tower when the monster noticed them. He turned and started charging up a shot. Sora and Donald looked over their shoulders, and then looked down, realizing that they were too high to jump.

"YAAAHHHH!"

Squall suddenly came flying out of nowhere. He swung his gunblade down at the monster, slashing at it's eye. The creature flailed about, firing the blast into the air. It narrowly missed the Shera, and it actually hit one of the wings of the Mabrik...

Wait, what?

The blue and white ship swooped down towards them. The monster looked back at Sora and Donald's tower and released another blast. The new gummi ship flew low, and a figure jumped out the back, casting a shield in the air and absorbing the shot.

The person remained suspended in mid air for a single moment that seemed to last an eternity. Then, the energy exploded, destroying the shield and sending the blocker careening away from the spires and into a metal filled junk yard below.

"RIKU!"


	34. But Legends Never Die

** Alright, now the full chapter is up for those of you who were tolerant enough to wait while I posted this bit by bit. Sorry for the late update, but life takes prescience over fanfiction. (Oh, how I wish it didn't...)**

** And yes, I stole these two chapter names from 'The Sandlot'. Who knew Babe Ruth could be deep?**

** Chapter 34: ... But Legends Never Die**

** On the Mabrik...**

Riku looked down at the huge world that was expanding before the ship as they exited the wormhole. "Yuffie," he said. "Take a look at the galactic timer."

Yuffie nodded and hit a couple of buttons on the dash. "... We've been gone almost the exact same amount of time we were in the past!" she said. "We're only off by a few minutes!"

P.J. shook his head in disbelief. "How did we pull that off...?"

Riku hit a scanner, quickly getting a reading of the world below them. Nothing of notice, but he did se something forming in the sky...

"That's not a normal storm," Riku said, pointing towards what looked like a hurricane. "We need to go there."

"... Uh... don't people usually go away from big not-normal storms?"

"What people?" Riku asked as he hit the thrust and they shot down towards the storm.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as they bumped through the atmosphere of the world. The came through the violent storm, only to see that there was no rain on the other side. Just a huge, gray city.

"That's kinda drab," Yuffie noted.

"What's that?" P.J. said, pointing towards the ruins of a huge building in the ruins of a huge city.

Riku and Yuffie looked at it for a minute before Yuffie exclaimed. "OH!"

"What?" Riku and P.J. yelled, turning towards her.

"That's Midgar!" she yelled. "I know this world!"

"You do?" Riku asked, looking back down at the city. He noticed a huge monster firing blue balls of fire at random objects...

"Does this world usually have huge monsters firing blue balls of fire at random objects?" Riku asked.

Yuffie got out of her seat and went to his side, looking down at the city below. "Where?" she asked. Riku pointed.

"I'm more concerned with why Cid's ship is floating above it."

Riku looked at her. "What?"

"That ship," she said, pointing. "That was Cid's prototype. The one they used to escape from Radiant Garden."

"Man, our luck just gets weirder and weirder," P.J. said.

"I'm taking us in close," Riku said. "That thing is huge, and if they're fighting it..."

Yuffie went back to her seat, and Riku steered the craft towards the monster.

Suddenly, the beast reared back, and a blast of energy came careening towards them.

"Incoming!" Riku yelled, jerking on the controls. The blast clipped their wing, and the ship jerked as it lost stability.

As they got closer, Riku could make out that the monster was getting ready to shoot again. It was aiming for-

"Take the controls!" Riku yelled, standing up. "Get me close!"

"What?" Yuffie cried, getting up after him. P.J. actually decided that someone needed to fly the ship, and rushed to the controls.

Riku jumped down the ladder and ran to the back door of the ship. Yuffie was right behind him. "Riku, what are you doing?"

Riku turned at her as he hit the button to open the ship's hatch. He smiled at her. "I thought I told you to stop trying so hard?"

"NO!"

Riku was sucked out the back of the ship. What happened next was so fast that he could barely take it in. He few directly in front of the creature's blast and threw up a Dark Shield, stopping it from killing Sora and Donald.

_"Heh heh..."_ he thought. _"And I always said that Sora played the hero... eat your Heart out, buddy..."_

Suddenly, his shield gave way, the energy ball exploded in his face. He could fell his ribs, arms and legs break almost instantly. He was sent flying backwards over the metal spires and into a junk yard. He heard Sora call his name briefly, but it was drowned out by the screeching of the monster.

Riku soared through the air for just a moment before he hit the ground. He bounced and flew through a pile of trash, sharp metal objects stabbing into him. He hit the ground and rolled pathetically before he hit another pile of trash, this time getting wooden splinters all over his body. And just when he thought he was going to skid to a halt peacefully, he hit another pile of trash, and a massive spike of metal skewered through his shoulder, bringing him to a standstill.

Riku tried to move his head, but he found that he couldn't due to splinters all over his neck. He looked down at the blood trail that followed him to his resting place. He didn't have much left. He looked at his arm. Was it still even on? He looked back towards where the monster was. He could barely make out the enraged cry of a teenager before the only thing he could hear was the beating of his Heart and the footsteps of Yuffie, who was running towards him...

"... S... Sora..."

"Kairi... Kairi..."

**At Seventh Heaven...**

Suddenly, Kairi's eyes snapped open. She looked at Terra, then at Jacob, the exclaimed, "Out of my way!" and shoved Jacob out of the booth, inadvertently dropping Marline onto the floor as well.

"Wha- Kairi!" Jacob yelled hitting the ground. The girl stepped over him and she ran to the door. "Where are you going?"

She turned back. "One of my dreams... it was the present. Riku is here, and he's dying!"

"... Riku?" Jacob asked. "You're sure?"

Kairi didn't have time for this. She reached for the door... only for it to open on it's own.

"Denzel," Kairi said, surprised.

"There's a big fight going on in the center of the city!" Denzel said. "Cloud and Sora sent me back here to get someone to help!"

Kairi shoved her way past him and into the street. She looked up into the sky and could see smoke rising up in the distance. She ran off down the street towards it.

Jacob got up. "Stay here with them!" he said, pointing at Terra. He ran past Denzel and slammed the door behind him, leaving the younger boy inside with the others.

**Back at the battle...**

Yuffie lowered herself over Riku. His body was surrounded by a massive pool of blood. There were tears in her eyes, but she was doing her best to hold them back.

Riku, on the other hand, was smiling.

"This is pretty gnarly, eh, Yuffie?"

She shook her head in amazement. "How can you talk like that at a time like this?"

"Time... t-time like... what?" he asked, struggling to get the words out, but smiling all the same.

Yuffie looked at his shoulder, but was so disgusted that she had to look away again. "You-you-you're dying..."

"... S-so?"

Yuffie couldn't take it anymore. The tears burst through, and she started screaming. "SO? YOU'RE DYING, YOU IDIOT!"

"Y-Yuffie..."

"Y-YOU CAN'T DIE! IT'S NOT RIGHT!"

"Yuffie..."

"IT'S NOT _FAIR_!"

She stopped. He looked at her. She tired to avoid his gaze, but found that she couldn't look away.

"Y-ya know..." Riku said. He stopped and coughed, blood spurting from his mouth. "Now is prob-... probably not the... best time for... this..."

"... Riku..." she said. She sniffed as the tears continued to come, but she managed to keep a straight face. "... I think... now... may be the only time."

"R-really?" Riku asked, still smiling. "Well, if it's the... the only... t-time... what are you... gonna do with it?"

There was a long pause.

"I... I think I... I think I... I love you."

"I n-never guessed."

They both stared at each other, Riku's smile fading. They both looked at each other blankly, before Yuffie leaned in, and she kissed him.

It wasn't hard, it wasn't passionate, but it didn't need to be. Her soft, wet lips on his bloody ones drew even more tears from Yuffie's eyes, and Riku felt some of them hit him. If both of his arms weren't broken, he would have pulled her in tighter.

After a few moments, they broke quietly. Yuffie pulled back, her lips and chin smeared with blood. "... Was... was that wrong?"

"Did it feel wrong?" Riku asked.

"... N-no," she said softly.

Riku shook his head slightly, despite the pain he felt upon doing so. "It... didn't feel wrong... to me. M-maybe we should do it... again, and m-make s-sure."

Yuffie leaned in again, and kissed him softly, tilting her head slightly to make it feel better. She pulled back again after a few moments and looked at him.

Riku shook his head again. "No, that felt good."

"R... Riku..."

"Here."

He held up his better arm slightly, winced at the pain and gestured with a finger to indicated he wanted her closer. She kneed her way right up to him, so that her chest was an inch from his. "L-lean on me."

Yuffie did as she was told. She could feel blood soaking through her clothes, but she didn't care anymore. It was _Riku's_ blood.

"... Sorry I was so cold," Riku said softly.

"... I guess it was mostly my fault," Yuffie replied. "I shouldn't have been... so-"

"Yuffie."

"What?"

"No, I mean... you shouldn't have been so _you_."

"Oh..."

"I'm wrong, Yuffie."

She closed her eyes as more tears dripped off of her and onto him. She could feel that lump in her throat, and she knew she wouldn't be able to hold it in much longer.

"Yuffie... don't change. I wouldn't forgive myself... If I changed you. You're perfect just the way you are."

Yuffie could feel his Heart beating against her breast. "... I'll try not to change..."

Riku took a deep breath and let it out, which she also felt on her body. "... I wish I could hold you. Tell you it's going to be alright." He paused. "I mean, I can do one of them, but it's just not the same, is it?"

Yuffie couldn't take it anymore. She let out a pathetic wail and tears burst from her eyes. She lowered herself on him more so that her head was resting on his good shoulder. Riku wanted nothing more that to pat her on the back... something... but he couldn't. There was nothing he could do.

"Yuffie," Riku said over the sound of her sobs. "Back on the ship. Under my m-m-m-mattress. There's an envelope. It's got letters... to people I care about. Incase s-something happened to me. I... want... you to make sure... the people get those... letters. Can you... Can you do that?"

"U-uh-hu..." Yuffie said pathetically.

"Good..."

Riku coughed up blood again, splattering it all over Yuffie's clothes. She could have cared less by now. The entire area around them was a bloody, muddy mess. Yuffie couldn't even feel anything anymore besides the beating of his Heart. That was all that existed. She couldn't leave his side until it stopped working...

"RIKU!"

"I-is that...?"

Yuffie looked up from the pile of metal and over to another pile of trash; one that concealed the junkyard from the street. Atop it was Kairi, who was running towards them. "RIKU! YUFFIE, IS RIKU ALRIGHT?"

Yuffie couldn't even bring herself to say anything. She just turned back and continued to sob into Riku's shoulder. Kairi ran up and knelt down so that she was in front of Riku. "Oh... oh my gosh... Riku..."

"H-hey, Kairi," he said. "Long time no see, stranger."

"... Riku... oh my gosh..." She looked between his shoulder, his face, and the back of Yuffie's head, and then repeated the cycle. "... Oh... oh, _Riku_... you're..."

"... H-hey... Kai..." Riku muttered as his eyes started to close. He coughed up some more blood, then said, "... Take... take care of Sora..."

Yuffie didn't feel his Heart anymore.

"NNNOOOOOOOOO!"

Kairi could only watch as Yuffie howled up at the sky. She looked up at the mound of trash she had descended from to see Jacob standing resolutely, staring down at her. He turned on his heel and sprinted off into the streets. What was going through his mind was for no man to know.

Kairi looked at Riku's limp body, then at Yuffie, who was still screaming in defiance, blood all over her face and clothes. She kissed Riku again, as though this would somehow revive him. She only smeared even more of the red liquid all over her own face.

Kairi stood and looked over at the monster. It looked like the fight was picking up, and Sora was practically flying through the air shooting spells at the beast.

_"Kill it."_

**Back in the streets...**

Reno and Rude slowly picked themselves off the ground. They got to their feet, brushed themselves off, and saw that they had been thrown out of the memorial area and into the streets. Yazoo and Loz were a few feet away, staring down at them.

"Are we having fun yet?" Yazoo asked.

"Sure..." Reno said. "Time of my LIFE!" He jumped into action, his weapon already reared back. He swung at Yazoo, who stepped out of the way and drew one of his guns. He took a hip shot at Reno, who ducked under it expertly and lunged at the man again. Yazoo flipped backwards and flew though the air, landing on top of a nearby building. Reno ran straight at it and went up the wall without stopping, grabbing at every handhold he could find, scrambling up like some sort of monster. He jumped up on top of the building and continued his relentless attack on Yazoo, the tip of his weapon cackling with electricity. Yazoo didn't even fire a shot from his gun-knives, but instead ducked a parried around Reno, as though toying with him.

Rude wasn't having much more luck. He and Loz, though their fight was much slower and heavy, was reaching what could have been a stalemate or just a ploy. Either way, Rude knew he wasn't winning the fight any time soon. Every punch he threw was blocked, every swing dodged. However, Loz hadn't landed a blow on him yet either, so it didn't look like they were going anywhere any time soon.

**Elsewhere...**

Sora watched as Riku's broken body flew backwards into the junk yard. He watched for a moment, where time seemed to stand still.

Then, suddenly, time started again.

"YYYAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Sora hurled himself off the spire and onto the creature's back. His Keyblade suddenly began to glow with a sort of white light, which seemed to ooze out of it and into the air. He gritted his teeth as he drove his blade directly into the beast's back, piercing through it's armored body. The monster didn't seem to take it as anything more than an annoyance, however, because he struck down with his wings and took both it's self and Sora into a low hover.

Sora jerked his blade out of the monster, spun it around over his head, and struck down vehemently. This time, the Light of his blade seemed to explode inside of the monster's body, with it's armor and skin suddenly being blown away. Sora, clearly not expecting this, was hit in the head with a chunk of armor and sent flying backwards towards the creature's tail.

Suddenly, he felt something grab the collar of his shirt. He looked up and saw that Vincent had leapt out into the air and intercepted him.

"Let me go!" Sora shouted, pointing his blade back at the beast and releasing a huge blast of Light.

"You don't know how to control that stuff," Vincent said as he swooped towards one of the spires. The ball of Light Sora had fired exploded on contact, releasing a white glow that seemed to suck the beast's flesh off and absorb it. "Calm down."

"Shut up! My best friend just got offed by this thing and you're telling me to calm down?"

Vincent dumped Sora down onto one of the metal beams. "Wait," he said with a voice that seemed even more raspy and intimidating than usual.

Of course, that didn't matter to Sora.

"SHUT UP!" Sora screamed at the man, taking a swipe at his head. Vincent ducked, and the blade, still oozing Light, sliced right through one of the beams. Vincent jumped backwards off of the spire and onto the next just as the one they had been in began to tilt to the side.

Sora just grabbed onto one of the beams that he hadn't sliced yet that was pointing upwards. He blasted the other two beams and waited for the structure to snap.

"_I know what I'm doing," _he thought arrogantly to himself. In reality, he had no idea what he was doing, but even he didn't know that. He only knew two things:

"Riku is hurt. The monster has to die."

The spire fell, and Sora swung himself around on the beam he was holding onto just as it snapped. For a few moments he was standing on the beam as it faced upwards, like a steep ramp. But as he ran, it fell... right on top of the beast.

Sora ran along the beam until he was over the monster again. He jumped into the air, coated his Keyblade with Light yet again, and dove directly for the monster's back.

**In the scrapyard...**

Yuffie, though tears would no longer come to her eyes, was still collapsed onto Riku's still warm body, hyperventilating as she tried to bring herself to stop sobbing. But she didn't want to stop sobbing. Somehow, she knew, that it would bring him back to life...

Kairi could only stare down at her. She had known Riku for all of five weeks. Kairi had known him for all her life. And yet Yuffie was the one who was sprawled out over him, mourning as though his passing marked the end of time.

Kairi was sad; no, she was beyond sad. She felt like she was being torn apart inside. Riku had always been one of her closest friends. More than once he had served as a voice of guidance, a shoulder to cry on, a voice of logic in her and Sora's crazy schemes. He had been one of her closest friends.

And now he was gone.

Kairi wasn't sure if it was just because it hadn't sunk in yet, but she couldn't cry.

Not at all.

It was as if her body wasn't comprehending what her Heart and mind were feeling. She was standing there, resolute, strong looking, looming over Yuffie, who looked so frail and weak, collapsed helplessly onto the body of a dead warrior. Yuffie was stronger than her. Much stronger.

So why... why... couldn't she cry?

Was it shock? Maybe her Heart and mind were stronger than she thought, and they hadn't exploded yet and released the terrible feeling into the rest of her being.

No, that was stupid. Now she was sounding like a scientist. Like a Jacob.

Jacob.

Jacob never showed his emotion. He laughed sometimes, but Kairi had always gotten the feeling that it was forced. But he was a really good actor, so sometimes she couldn't even tell. But, there was always one thing that told her all she needed to know about him.

It was always his eyes that gave him away.

They were like black pits of nothing. They looked hollow; tired, perhaps. But they always seemed... empty.

She noticed things like that, you know. She always read people like that. Sometimes, somehow, she could read people in other ways as well. It was as if they had a second voice, speaking to her softly... she could never really make out what the voices were saying, but she wasn't sure she wanted to. They always felt dark... foreboding and secretive.

She felt like that most of the time. For years she had thought that everyone felt that way, so she hadn't really talked about it. But after she found out she was a Princess of Heart...

She still hadn't told anyone. She was afraid that she was listening to their Hearts, and people would probably become really, really conscious of themselves whenever she was around if they knew she could do that.

But Jacob and Riku... they were both unlike anything she had ever listened to.

When she had been with Jacob... there was nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing came from him but a soft, echoing noise like you would hear in a cave. You knew that something was in there, deep down... but you couldn't find it. It wasn't like when she was around Nobodies. Then, she really couldn't hear anything. But with Jacob... she knew something was there.

But Riku...

Every time she listened to him... it was a bit like Sora. When she was around Sora, she could feel a presence with her. It warmed her Heart, and made her feel protected.

But Riku...

Somehow, it was different. Something had always been there that had haunted her. Something that she didn't understand; something that she couldn't feel.

Darkness.

She knew that must have been what it was. It was a lust. Not just caring, but lust. Kairi didn't understand the feeling, but she had always known that it was different... and maybe, just maybe, she liked it.

That was what had always kept her from picking between Riku and Sora. Something about Riku... that feeling... it was so different, so breathtakingly dirty, but so wonderful...

And she would never feel it again.

Then a tear came.

_"What? You're crying now?"_ she screamed internally. _"After thinking that? No, that's wrong! You shouldn't cry for that reason!"_

She didn't know why she was crying over that. She knew she would miss the feeling, but it wasn't a matter of missing it. She was feeling something... unfamiliar.

_"Selfishness." _

The word came from deep inside her. She had heard others say it, she had heard them describe it, and like so many other things, she had wondered why she never felt it.

But she knew what it felt like now.

It felt _good_.

_"No!"_ she cried at herself. "This is wrong! Riku deserves better than this!"

Kairi suddenly jerked down and felt her chest jerk as she had a dry heave. She suddenly found herself wishing she had something to eat just so she could throw it. It happened again, but this time, it was stronger. It felt almost like something was trying to break through her chest.

"Wha- Kairi! Not you too!" she could hear Yuffie shout. She looked up just slightly to see Yuffie's bloodstained form rising up off of Riku's mutilated body and come towards her. Then, she collapsed.

"Kairi! Kairi! Oh no, Kairi..."

"_I like Yuffie. I meet her back in Traverse Town. She had been the nearest age-wise, and we had gotten sort of close."_

_ "Why am I even thinking about that?"_

_ "Huh... the clouds are really gray. And dull. Needs some color. And rainbows. And unicorns."_

_ "Okay, really, what's going on?"_

_ "Hey, my hair is really red. Like, really, really red. And I don't even dye it. What's up with that?"_

_ "Ugh... my head..."_

Kairi's eyes closed, and suddenly, her mind shut down, and again, she entered her dreams.

** Elsewhere...**

Sora's sword released it's Light again, blowing away more of the monster's body. It seemed to realize that it was being hurt, and swished his massive tail at Sora. Sora ducked and slashed his blade at the tail just as it went over him. It left a long, white cut in the massive tail, glowing with light. The monster screeched in pain, but Sora didn't care. He again charged his sword with Light and plunged it into the monster. Again, more and more of the beast tore away. It beat it's wings down and took off into the air, probably in an effort to get Sora off.

Sora could hear everyone down below him yelling for just a moment; he could hear Donald's spells exploding on the side of the beast, and the black man's gun arm pounding away on the monster as well. But soon, the sounds were lost as he and the monster rocketed high above the city. The monster flew up into the sky so fast that Sora was almost sure that he would be thrown off of the beast.

Almost.

He stabbed his blade down again, but instead of releasing all of it's energy at once, he began to release it over time as he ran up the monster's back, blade still implanted in it. The monster screamed in pain as Sora tore up it's body, skin and armor flying off of it. Sora ripped all the way up to the monster's neck, where he cleanly severed that and beheaded the monster. The head only broke away from the body for a fleeting moment before it evaporated into a cloud of thick Darkness. The body soon did the same, leaving Sora to plummet down towards the ground.

Yes... he didn't think that through at all, did he?

Sora turned over in the air and looked for the Shera. It was still gonna be a hard landing, but at least it was closer- and smoother -than the giant metal spires below. He angled himself so that he shot towards the airship, landing neatly on top of it, barely avoiding it's spinning propeller.

Everyone on the ground looked up as the monster's body blew away in the wind, fading away into the gray sky.

Yuffie looked up from Kairi's limp body for just a moment, then back down. "Kairi, Sora just killed the monster. You need to wake up, you little... Kairi... Oh no... Kairi..."

**Else**_**when...**_

_Kairi opened her eyes slowly. She felt like she had been dropped off of one of the trees on the play island. She shook her head, and looked in front of her. A wall. Huh. _

_ She was tied to a chair. She fidgeted a bit, but the chair didn't budge._

_ How in the world did she get here? Last thing she remembered, she had been at school, and Sora had been inviting her to a sleep over... but trying to hide it, of course. He had to make sure that none of the other guys knew he had a girl in his house. She remembered Riku coming over to join their conversation... and now she's here. What was going on?_

_ "Ah, good, you're awake..."_

_ Kairi looked to her right. There were bars, like a prison cell. Beyond them, she could see a tall man with wavy blond hair, wearing a blood red cloak. His voice was the one she had just heard. Something about it was hauntingly familiar..._

_ And past him still, in what looked very much like the dungeon of a castle, she could see two more chairs, both tied together. In one of them was a red haired girl who was perhaps a year or so older than Kairi, thirteen perhaps. In the other was a boy who looked to be fifteen or so. Unruly black hair fell over his ears and shadowed his fallen head. Both of them were unconscious._

_ "Kairi, I'm really sorry..."_

_ The voice came from behind her. She turned her head a bit more and saw that her chair was tied to one as well. It was occupied by a girl who looked to be a few years younger than her, with blond hair that went past her shoulders and to some point on her back, which Kairi couldn't see due to the chair. There were several wounds on the girl's face, and apparently on her neck as well, since a bit of her hair in the back was blood stained._

_ "W-where-?"_

_ "Lindsey, Kairi," the man said. "Please be silent."_

_ Kairi suddenly felt her windpipes cease up, and all the air was pushed out of her lungs. She gasped one last bit as the air escaped her before she found herself unable to open her mouth. It appeared that the same had happened to the girl next to her, whom Kairi presumed was named Lindsey. Lindsey, at the moment, was looking at the man with horror in her eyes, and tears streaming down her cheeks._

_ Kairi wasn't feeling bad yet. After all, she lived on the coast of an island, didn't she? Everyone here could hold their breath for a really long time. Why was Lindsey so concerned with this?_

_ And why was the man doing this? Actually, how was he doing this? Had he poisoned them or something? She had heard of poisons that could harm one's respiratory system in science class._

_ And why was he still making them hold their breaths for so long? Why would anyone do something like that? Kairi hadn't done anything wrong._

_ Lindsey's eyes were threatening to roll into the back of her head. She was jerking about, when anyone on the islands would know that you always just hold still when one is holding their breath. What was wrong with this girl?_

_ Hmm. Kairi was starting to feel light-headed. Not so bad that she felt like she needed to stop though. She was strong enough to keep going._

_ The man looked away from the two girls for a moment and waved his hand towards the other two in the room. Both of them jerked upright in an instant, glasses flying off of the boy's face, his hair flipping up._

_ "You two really shouldn't have pissed me off," the man said to the two of them as they looked around franticly. _

_ The boy looked at Kairi and Lindsey. Suddenly, his eyes were filled with a hatred the likes of which Kairi had never seen. He looked up at the man. "Let them go!" he yelled. "They didn't do anything to you, Noir!"_

_ The girl looked over at the two of them as well. She let out a terrified gasp of 'Oh-no' before the man, who's name seemed to be Noir, spoke. "My quarrel is with anyone who opposes me, and anyone affiliated with them." He turned away from them and looked back at Lindsey and Kairi. "Besides, in hurting these two, I'm technically hurting you, aren't I, Jacob?"_

_ Jacob looked between Noir, Kairi, and Lindsey. "Let Lindsey go! She's turning blue!"_

_ Kairi looked over her shoulder again and saw that Lindsey's thrashing had stopped, but she was starting to slump over in her chair._

_ "Very well, I suppose," Noir said, flicking his wrist mildly. Lindsey jerked again and took a huge gulp of air in before slumping over again, panting weakly._

_ "But let's see how Miss. Kairi does here," Noir said, gesturing towards her again. Kairi was starting to feel strain on her lungs. But surely he would let her go soon. He had accidentally held Lindsey that long, expecting her to be better at holding her breath._

_ Right?_

_ "Kairi, are you okay?" Jacob asked her, with almost a pleading voice, as if praying that she was. "He hasn't hurt you yet, has he?"_

_ Kairi shook her head no, but a particular word stood out in her mind at that moment: yet._

_ Why would he word it like that?_

_ Suddenly, Noir clenched his fist. Jacob jerked back against his chair as though in excruciating pain, his face cringed so badly that it seemed as though it was made of unmoving stone. He didn't even cry out in pain, as though he was unable._

_ "Stop it!" the red-haired girl screamed, her voice somewhere between bold and scared out of her wits. "Stop hurting him!"_

_ Noir released his fist, and Jacob let out a gasp, his eyes suddenly opening so wide in shock that they looked as though they'd roll out of his head. He doubled over in his chair and threw up on his shoes._

_ Noir slowly walked towards the girl now. She seemed to be regretting yelling at him now, as she was looking at him, terrified, and leaning back away from him._

_ Kairi was really starting to hurt now. Had they forgotten about her? She didn't think she had ever held her breath this long... and she hadn't even taken a breath of air before Noir had started._

_ "Kairi... Are you okay?" Lindsey whispered to her. Kairi hesitated, but eventually shook her head 'no', "... I... I'm so sorry..."_

_ Kairi desperately wanted to ask 'for what?' but couldn't, obviously. _

_ "Listen to me, girl," Noir was saying to the red-head. "Do you really think that asking me to do something will make me stop? I'll do whatever I please, whenever I please." He backhanded her hard, and when she looked back up at him, there was a trickle of blood running out of her mouth. "I can do whatever I want. Right?" he asked. Even though she still looked terrified, she shook her head a defiant 'no'. "Really?"_

_ "Okay," Kairi thought to herself. "I really, really, really want to breathe. Is anyone listening? Well, of course they aren't listening, you can't talk, dummy! But how do I get their attention..."_

_ Noir lifted his right hand in front of the girl. Suddenly, his fingertips glowed with an erie purple light. The girl's eyes locked onto the light, and her mouth dropped open._

_ "I can do whatever I want," Noir said. "And you'll let me."_

_ The girl continued to stare up dumbly at the light, a bit of drool mixing with the blood escaping her mouth. After a few moments, she nodded a yes, and her mouth closed, but she continued to stare up at his hand._

_ "N-N-N-N-Noir..."_

_ The man whipped around, the light on his hand vanishing. It was Lindsey who had spoken. "K-K-K-Kairi..."_

_ Noir rolled his eyes and waved his hand at Kairi. Suddenly, her mouth opened, and the air came flowing back in. Kairi gasped in relief, and doubled over in her chair as she gasped for more._

_ Noir turned away from them, smiling. He reached down at the red-head and grabbed one of her petite breasts, squeezing it. The girl moaned, but gave no resistance, and simply stared up at his face._

_ "G-get the hell off of her..."_

_ Noir looked down at Jacob, who was still staring down at his shoes, but somehow knew exactly what Noir was doing. "Ah, it lives!" Noir said. "How delightful! I was afraid you'd up and left us early." He gave the girl another squeeze. "Do you have a problem with what I'm doing?"_

_ "..."_

_ "It's her or those two over there, Jacob," Noir said, smiling. _

_ "Oh, stop with the theatrics," Jacob said, still looking down. Kairi thought she could still see vomit dripping from his mouth. "We both know I'm not some freaking hero. So if you're gonna kill us, just kill us already."_

_ Noir let go of the red-head and knelt down next to Jacob. He grabbed him by the hair and jerked his head upwards so that they were looking each other in the eyes. "Now where's the fun in that?"_

_ He let go of Jacob, but this time his head didn't fall. Jacob sat up in his chair, though he still looked pained. The other girl continued to stare at Noir as though taking her eyes off of him would mean death. _

_ Noir walked towards the bars and lifted his hand. Suddenly, Kairi felt as though electricity was being shot through her body. Both she and Lindsey jerked rigid in their chairs and screamed._

**Present..**

Reno and Rude weren't having the best of luck.

After putting up the best fight they could had unfortunately not being able to best the seemingly genetically enhanced silver-haired brothers, they were again reminded of how unimportant they were when Jacob came running towards them looking like he was going to help, only to shoot by them and continue down the street.

"Bitch!" Reno screamed.

"I try!" Jacob yelled back.

Reno spat in Jacob's direction, even though the man was quite a bit out of range. He turned around to face his two opponents just as Rude replaced his sunglasses (which had been broken earlier in the fight) with another pair that he seemingly pulled out of no where.

"Uh, dude, I thought we talked about that," Reno said sarcastically.

"I don't have a problem."

"You both will if you don't tell us everything Shinra knows about Mother!" Yazoo demanded in a voice that was both threatening and inexplicably calm.

"Ah, bull," Reno said, whipping out his cattle prod. "We may not be able to beat you, but there's no way that you can_ really _(R-Rated) us." He looked at his partner. "Scary pair of monsters distraction plan 44-2-7/J ?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of 3-3DoSS."

"How's about we compromise?"

"Why not?"

"If you two are quite done talking in codes," Yazoo drawled. "We'd like to get this over with."

"Yeah, we've kinda got a full schedule," Loz added.

Reno smirked. "You're gonna miss a few appointments."

Rude grabbed Reno's arm and hurled him at Yazoo as though the red-head had just been fired out of a cannon. Reno hit him with his weapon forward, sending electricity through the leather-wearing creep as they flew down the street in a manner that seemed physically impossible.

Loz was quite a bit destroyed by this, and didn't have time to react when Rude grabbed the back of his head, crunched though the massive amounts of hair-gel used there, and slammed Loz's face into the street.

**Elsewhere...**

Sora steadied himself on the top of the stationary vehicle, which never the less didn't seem to be still at all. This was probably because of the wind and the whirring of the nearby propeller.

There was a hatch nearby. That would probably be a better idea than to jump down into the death trap of a city's trash below him.

_ "Darn it, Riku... you better be okay..." _

Sora carefully approached the hatch, and flung it open. He lowered himself in, and the hatch closed behind him. The air-lock he had just gotten into hissed, realized that they were already in an oxygen rich environment, and opened. Sora stepped through just as Merlin came careening down the hall, one hand holding his wand, the other clutching his hat.

"Ah, Sora!" he said. "That was spectacular! But I'm sure everyone down on the surface will be waiting for you-"

"I need you to come down with me," Sora said, brushing past the wizard in a very 'I'm to busy for this crap' manner. "Someone is going to die."

Merlin screeched to a halt and turned after him. "Wait! Die? Who?"

Sora looked over his shoulder with fire in his eyes. "If we don't hurry, Riku." He turned away from Merlin as he rounded a corner. "And who ever called that monster."

**Below...**

Jacob walked through the empty hallways of the building, his gun up and at the ready. He watched ever corner, every shadow, for even the slightest hint of movement...

He came to the end of one of the halls. The door was locked. He shot out the hinges and kicked the door open, quickly looking down the two hallways that had opened for him; one to the left, one to the right. They were both empty. He looked at the ceiling. Nothing.

He looked down the halls again, and decided randomly that he was going left.

Just as he turned, he felt a hand grab his hair, and a leg come up from under him and kick him in the groin. Jacob yelled as Noir yanked on his head and hurled him backwards down the other hall. He sailed backwards for almost twenty seconds before he slammed into the wall. He actually indented into it, and was unable to move.

Noir zapped all the way down the hall in a whirlwind of Darkness. "So, Jacob..." he said, smiling. "Long time no see."

"... Shut up..."

"Not just yet," Noir said, smiling. "Tell me, where is Bliss of Heart?"

Jacob's head fell. Holy crap, only this ass hole could make him hurt like this...

Noir grabbed Jacob's hair and jerked him up again, Jacob's glasses flying off of his face. "I asked you a question. Where is my artifact?"

"... Go... to hell..."

"I think we're already there," Noir said. His hand curled into a fist and became engulfed with Darkness. He punched Jacob in the chest, deepening the crater the man was already in and sending excruciating pain through Jacob's body. He let out a shout of pain, but it was defiant all the same.

"Now, I'll ask you one more time before I-"

"No, you'll ask till I answer," Jacob cut him off. "I'm the only one who knows where it is, Noir. And I'm never going to tell you anything."

"Even if...?" Noir started. Telepathic images passed through Jacob's mind of a female figure bleeding, screaming, gasping her last breath...

"She's dead to me. Do as you wish."

Noir frowned. "You really have changed, haven't you Jacob?"

"And I hate myself for it." Jacob grimaced a bit deeper than he already had been. "Tell you what, you filthy whore: I might just answer you question if you answer one for me."

"And your question is?"

"Did you call that monster?"

"Hardly," Noir replied. "I gave the summon charm to Kadaj. Among other things, of course... be it unleashed or not, it was his choice."

"... That's like handing a bunch of black slum kids from back on Land of Liberty a couple of AK-47's and telling them to do what they think is right."

"That really was an odd world you found yourself on, wasn't it?"

"Yeah... the name suits it."

"So Jacob, will you answer my question now?" Noir asked.

"No need," Jacob replied. After Noir raised an eyebrow in a very 'okay, I'll bite' fashion, Jacob said simply, "You see, that monster just killed Sora's best friend. And Kairi should relay the message to him. I'm sure he won't be very happy with you."

Noir looked behind him, even though he could sense no one was there. "What are you talking about? I'm starting to think you're crazier than I!"

"I probably am," Jacob said. "But I use my insanity in a very different way than you." He smiled and winked. "Ain't that right, Kairi?"

And suddenly, in the junkyard, a Princess of Heart woke up.

**The Shera...**

Sora was already preparing to jump from the considerably lower hight, with Merlin behind him to use magic and break his fall.

"Sora," Merlin panted, running up behind him. "I've got a bit of a job up here, you see-"

"You don't come with me, I might die. Capice?" (A/N: I just wanted to give someone other than Jacob an excuse to say that. So bad-ass!)

Sora threw himself out the door.

"Bother!" Merlin muttered to himself before he shoved his wand into his beard before jumping out himself, pressing his hands against his robe to make sure it wasn't blown up.

**Below...**

Vincent flicked his wrist, his gun clicking closed, containing a new load of shells. For some reason, he had a feeling that this wasn't over...

Sora came in almost as fast as Squall, who was quite a bit stronger than Sora, and had even broken his fall a bit when he slashed at the monster. Vincent wasn't exactly happy to watch the Keybearer get turned into street art, but he didn't have to hurl himself out to catch him when he saw what looked like a transparent blue bubble appear below Sora. The Keybearer's fall was slowed, and he hit the ground relatively softly. A figure in a blue robe was shortly behind him, using a similar spell in combination with his clothes opening like a parachute. He landed next to Sora, who promptly yelled at him to follow and sprinted off towards the junkyard.

_"The other boy..."_ Vincent muttered. He again became absorbed in his cloak, and shot to the ground and appeared in front of Sora, standing upright with the exception of a slight slouch he always seemed to adopt.

"Sora," his grating voice came. "He's dead."

"No, he's not!" Sora yelled in his face with force that seemed a more than a little out of character. He bolted off, with the wizard behind him. Vincent turned around and followed them with his eyes, letting out a little sigh before he turned back to the spires and looked up into the sky. The clouds and lightning somewhat obscured the approach of Imperial Dropships...

**Elsewhere...**

Kadaj watched, a rather amused expression on his face. "Pathetic, isn't it? How they work so hard to overcome one trial, only for another to come moments after? And I'm not even done with them yet..." He turned around. "So, Mr. President, any requests for the next-"

Rufus was on his feet.

Kadaj stared, wide eyed and slack-jawed. The formerly great ruler of the world's sheet flew off of his body, revealing the tight surgical looking bandages around his face. He grinned as he held up a sealed black box, covered with bio-hazard warnings.

"M-Mother!" Kadaj exclaimed.

"A good son would have known."

Rufus tossed the box idly over the edge, grinning as though he wasn't about to get blown to hell.

**The junkyard...**

Sora ran over to Riku's now resting place. But the one moving person wasn't over his body...

"KAIRI!" Sora screamed. No, it was impossible. Not both of them. In less than minutes of each other? There was no way. And Jacob would have never let it happen...

"WHAT HAPPENED?" Sora yelled, dropping to his knees next to her and grabbing Yuffie's shoulders, whirling her to face him.

"I-I-I d-don't know!" she exclaimed, tears flowing from her eyes so openly that her eyes could have started shriveling and no one would have been surprised. "She c-came for R-Riku, and she j-j-just collapsed!"

Sora leaned down over her and held his finger to her neck. A pulse.

"I a-already checked her," Yuffie said. "She might have just f-fainted..."

"With our luck?" Sora asked, looking up at her just as Merlin ran up. "It's never that simple, Yuffie..."

"Ah, oh my..." Merlin said, his eyes falling on Riku's bloodied body. "Sora, I'm fairly certain that... well, he's..."

Sora looked up at Merlin, and then at Riku, pure spite on his face. His head fell after a few moments, his lip curling like he was possessed. "I know he's dead."

There was a long moment of silence before two things happened at once:

Yuffie screamed moments before a missile hit the ground near them, throwing junk into the air around them.

Kairi jerked upright, inadvertently slamming into Sora's head.

"Those are Imperial ships!" Yuffie yelled over the sudden orchestra of explosions. Some of the ships were getting low enough to deploy troops on jet-packs, and they were getting closer.

Sora and Kairi were far more distracted with each other, though.

After bouncing off of each other, they promptly began screaming at each other.

"Oh my gosh! Kairi, what happened? Don't you _dare_ ever scare me like that again _ever_!"

"Sora! Riku, he just went as I got here! Oh, I was so scared..."

Then, they both stopped. Both of them had the beginnings of tears in their eyes, and neither of them seemed to notice that they were under attack. Kairi's hair was billowing about in the wind from the explosions, but neither of them seemed to notice. All they knew was that the other was slowly and painfully being torn up inside.

Only Kairi wasn't sure what she was feeling inside...

Sora took her in her arms, and she returned the embrace. She felt tears coming up again, but just like last time, they didn't feel welcome. Was she crying for the same unfamiliar reason as before? Or was it really for Riku? Or perhaps Sora? Or, even Jacob?

"Jacob!" she yelled, relinquishing Sora. "Sora, I had a dream! I think it was the present, or the future, but... Noir's got Jacob!"

The world seemed to come back and punch him in the face. He'd have to worry about the fact that Kairi had experienced even _more_ dreams would bother him later. At the moment, he had to go and rescue someone who may or may not yet be in danger with no idea where they were.

Oh, and the Empire had caught up with them.

"What's happening to Jacob," Sora asked urgently.

"He's in some sort of building," she answered. Noir drove him into a wall, and he's got him pinned down. But... he knew I was watching him."

"... W-what?" Sora stared at Kairi in bewilderment for only a few more moments before a missile hit the ground right next to them. Sora, Kairi, Merlin, and Yuffie were blown into the air and crashed a few feet away, narrowly avoiding much worse spills into the various junk piles around them.

Sora looked up at the missile impact sight, and saw a massive smoking crater where Riku's body had been moments ago.

_"No. No, anywhere but there. No, no no no no no no no NO!"_

Sora looked up just as a dropship came into a hover a little ways away from them. It floated, pointing right towards them for a few moments, before it released missiles.

Yuffie jumped out of the way, and Merlin teleported; it was instinct, and they didn't even think of Sora and Kairi.

Sora did.

A scream escaped Kairi's mouth just as Sora flipped over her, grabbed her, and threw up a Reflect spell just as the missile struck. Kairi could hear impact and resulting explosion, but could see nothing more than Sora's chest as she felt herself pulled along through the air with him, flipping with the spell still up around them.

The shield disbursed, and suddenly the heat in the air hit them all at once. That was the least of their worries, though, as they hit the ground and were again faced with the problem of the dropship. Sora got off of Kairi and onto one knee, looking up at the ship, his Keyblade suddenly in hand. Kairi looked up at it from the ground, praying that Sora would do something, anything...

Sora lifted his blade and launched a massive ball of fire at the monstrosity, but all did was explode on the armored cockpit and throw up a small, pathetic looking haze of smoke.

That was going to have to be good enough. "Kairi!" Sora yelled, grabbing her arm and lifting her up. She felt herself being pulled along by him, her feet moving without resistance, though clumsily.

"I can run on my own, you know!" she shouted to him over the sound of another missile being fired.

"Just come on!" Sora yelled back at her as the projectile hit the ground behind them, throwing metal shards into the air above them.

Kairi looked back at the ship, only to see a red blur shoot through it and break out the other side, leaving two connecting holes on either side of the ship. The ship faltered for a moment, before it exploded in the air.

"Holy-!" Kairi shouted as Sora pulled her even harder in an attempt to escape from the falling ship. It crashed into the ground, and another explosion went up as all the missiles the ship had been carrying went off, along with anything else at all combustible in the ship. Even though Sora and Kairi looked clear enough, the resulting blast knocked both of them off of their feet, resulting in Kairi landing right on top of Sora.

They both looked at each other again. "Uh... thanks for saving my life... again."

"Y-yeah," Sora replied softly. Just as quickly as they went down, they both snapped back to reality. "We've got to get out of here," he said.

Kairi slid off of him, and they both got to their feet. Sora scanned the sky shortly and was able to gather that someone had gotten back on the Shera, because it was firing bullets, lasers, and every other weapon under the stars at the invading ships. Sora was trying to riddle out what he could do to help with the efforts when he remembered that he needed to rescue Jacob.

Huh... that was new.

Sora was about to ask Kairi if she had any more details before Merlin popped into existence next to the two of them.

"I'm sorry, you two!" he said hastily. "I should have taken you out with me, but I simply didn't think of it-"

"Merlin, can you find someone?" Sora asked urgently.

Merlin looked slightly taken aback by the fact that Sora, who had been extremely pissed off and demanding but a minute ago (a lot happens in such a small amount of time, huh?) was now... well... doing whatever it was he was doing. "What exactly do you mean, lad?"

"I need you to tell me where Jacob is. _Now_."

Merlin eyed him. "What's going on-?"

"Merlin, I need this _now._"

Merlin opened his mouth, thought better of it, and then waved his wand in the air before touching it to his head. "This had better be important. I can only do this so much before-"

"It's important!" Sora and Kairi both screamed.

"Alright, alright!" Merlin said angrily. He held up his wand, and a small silver ball of light appeared on the tip of it. It floated off of the stick, and then shot off into the city.

"Wait! Merlin!" Sora yelled, taking off after the ball. "You've got to be kidding me!"

Kairi ran a little ways after him. "Sora!" He turned around and looked back at her, still running backwards. "Noir said someone named Kadaj called the monster, but Noir gave it to him!"

Something undefinable was in Sora's eyes as he turned and bolted off after the ball, out of the junkyard and into the streets.

Kairi stared after him for just a moment before she felt something grab the neck of her shirt and lift her up into the air. She could hear Merlin down on the ground yelling out spells, and she could feel the energy flying through the air around her. She was turned around, and she found herself staring at her own golden reflection.

"Remember me?" Agent Tex asked.

** Below...**

Cloud was about the only one who noticed the huge flash of blue light off in the city, followed by an explosion that incinerated the floor of the building the blast had ensued from. Somehow, even that far away, he could see who he was dealing with.

Rufus fell of the edge of the building just in time to avoid Kadaj's blast destroying his body. As he flew off, he whipped out a shotgun from underneath his clothes, and fired a few shots up at Kadaj, who didn't seem at all phased by the attack.

"Mother!" Kadaj shouted, looking down after the box even as the area around him was absorbed in flame. He hurled himself off the building and went into a dive, his hand outstretched for the box as though this would somehow draw it towards him. Rufus continued to fire his weapon at the man, but it didn't seem to have any effect, as bullets that impacted right into his chest seemed to melt away upon impact.

Below, Reno and Rude were continuing their fight with Yazoo and Loz, with limited success. They were at somewhat of a stalemate when the two Turks noticed the mid-air gun fight going on above them.

They didn't have time to react before nets were launched out underneath the President, breaking his fall. On balconies on either side of him were two more figures dressed in uniforms similar to Reno and Rude's. However, at the moment they were a bit more concerned that Kadaj had somehow managed to catch the box which they knew contained Jenova's head.

Yazoo and Loz seemed to think they had better things to do with their time, because they abandoned the fight and ran off towards Kadaj, who was staring down at the box in an adoring and obsessive way.

Reno and Rude were contemplating if they should go after the three or not, but their question was answered when Cloud shot by on his black motorcycle. The other three seemed to notice him as they mounted and took off through the city.

"We'll leave it to you, then!" Reno yelled after them before he and Rude ran over to help the other two Turks get Rufus down.

**In other streets...**

Sora ran as fast as he could, shoving people out of the way mercilessly as he did so. He watched the silver ball with the eyes of a hawk, determined not to lose it should it take a sharp turn.

_"Noir murdered Riku. He's gonna pay."_

Those two sentences were the only things playing over and over in his mind. The gray world and people around him began to seem even grayer, and blurred together. All that mattered was following that orb no matter what.

_"Noir murdered Riku. He's gonna pay."_

The ball went upwards slightly towards what appeared to be a condemned building. It touched one of the higher walls before it vanished from existence. Sora stared up at it for a moment, wondering if it had gone through the wall, but suddenly, a crater appeared in the wall, in the shape of a human.

_"Jacob."_

That though grabbed his attention for about a half a second before the old one came back. He ran towards the front doors of the high rise and found them boarded up. A quick Fire spell and a Keyblade slash later, he was in. He bolted through what looked like the lobby of a business complex, or perhaps a warehouse. But, of course, the second option didn't make sense, since this was a multi-floored building.

_"Focus,"_ he told himself. _"Noir murdered Riku. He's gonna die."_

For some reason, thinking that made him feel better. It made him feel stronger, like there was a fire burning in his heart. He wanted to make Noir suffer like he was now, and like Riku probably had. He was going to force this man to suffer...

But why did those thoughts feel so good?

_"Shut up," _he ordered his mind. _"Noir murdered my best friend. He's gonna get the same."_

He climbed up the stairs of the building until he reached what he believed to be the correct floor. He was prepared to bash the door down, but he found that it was open. He moved through it and into what looked like it had once been an office floor, with marks in the carpet where cubicles had once stood. Sora held his Keyblade at the ready as he crossed the room, scanning his surroundings for any signs of Noir or Jacob.

Or anyone, for that matter.

He reached another open door. It lead to two branching hallways. He picked the one that he thought lead towards the street, and followed it. He soon came to another door, which had large holes where hinges once were and was laying on the floor.

Sora stepped out and looked down the hall to his right, and saw a blood red cloak seemingly staring at the wall.

Noir sighed. "Well, at least the two of us have plenty of time..."

"Not likely, you bastard."

Noir turned and saw Sora walking towards them down the hall, Keyblade in hand. "Step away from him now."

"Ah, Sora!" he said pleasantly, turing his back to Jacob and taking a few steps away. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"You know perfectly well," Sora said, his expression containing something sinister. "You killed my best friend."

"I believe that the beast which felled Riku was summoned by Kadaj-"

"Don't give me that crap," Sora said angrily. "You gave him the summon in the first place."

"Did I?" Noir asked. "I've been around for so long, all my memories seem to blur together."

"One of Kadaj's crew said that you knew about me. And my friends. What did he mean?"

Noir shrugged. "Many have misinterpreted what I say."

"Answer the damn question!" Sora screamed, stopping his movements. He held up his Keyblade and a ball of fire began to form on it's tip, slowly growing.

Noir only smiled at him. "So. Our battle will be legendary."

Suddenly, the wall Jacob was imbedded in was sucked away into the air. Then the ceiling and floor began to rip away, and the walls. Noir only grinned at Sora as the two of them were sucked out as well, shattered chunks of the building flying everywhere. Sora tried to aim his fire ball at Noir, but a huge slab of wall flew at him and knocked his Keyblade in a different direction. Sora accidently released the fireball and didn't have time to look back at Noir before he was struck across the face by the hilt of Noir's blood red sword. Sora recovered and ducked as Noir swiped the business end of his weapon at Sora's head, and he rolled through the air, which was still forcefully pulling on the two of them.

"Where are you taking us?" Sora yelled as he lifted his Keyblade to slash through some of the debris. The two halves fell onto the city below, causing the many people observing from below to duck their heads or get out of the way.

"All in good time, my dear boy!" Noir called back to him happily, holding up his sword as an orb of Dark energy began to form around it. "All in good time!"

"Time is something I haven't got!" Sora yelled, kicking off a flying object and hurling himself at Noir. He swung his blade at the man, who blocked. The orb of Darkness was still growing as they went into a blade lock. "Skip this and let's get where where we're going! I'll exchange the time for a few minutes with my best friend!"

"Tut tut, Sora," Noir said in a pitting voice. "I'd have thought that as a Keyblade Master you'd been exposed to loss before this. You're so weak..."

"SHUT _UP_!" Sora screamed, pulling his blade away from Noir and taking a swipe at the man's side. Noir flipped through the air and the blade went right under him. Noir spun again, sailing away from Sora. He lifted his sword up, and the energy atop it exploded, suddenly sending out what looked like black lightning in several directions. They all formed what appeared to be a circle around the two of them, and a wall of Darkness grew between the points in the air where the lightning had stopped. Sora and Noir stopped moving through the air, but they remained suspended above the city as the sphere formed around them. It closed, incasing the two inside of it, leaving their world pitch black.

Well, one of their worlds, anyway.

Sora barely heard the swish of Noir's blade in time to lift his Keyblade and block what would have been a death blow. Sparks lit up the area for but a moment before Sora pushed off of Noir's sword and away from him. He listened for any sort of movements, and the next time he was a bit more quick to block a jab at his back.

"Very good, Sora," Noir said, his voice moving about as though he wanted Sora to know his location. "Perhaps you are skilled enough to hold the title of Keyblade Master after all. But, there is far more required to hold this title than simply skill... I wonder if you possess these talents?"

Sora slowly turned in the air as he followed Noir's voice, which was slowly circling around him. "What do you know of Keyblade Masters?" Sora asked fiercely.

"Oh, quite a bit more than you do..." Noir said. "Tell me, would you like to see what you lack?"

"Not exact-"

Suddenly, even though Sora had been sure Noir had been in front of him, he suddenly felt a hand grab the back of his head. The black world suddenly whirled around him, and the Darkness began to break away, streaks of light almost blinding him as more and more of the sphere peeled away and the rate at which they were spinning became faster and faster...

It stopped. Sora found that he was face down in grass, and his eyes were closed. He pushed up and opened his eyes, looking around. He wasn't in Edge anymore, that was for sure.

He was in a field filled with wildflowers of every variety, with snowcapped mountains in the far off distance. It seemed as though the field went out for miles, because on all sides the mountains which were obviously very tall looked like children's sandcastles on the beach.

Sora summoned his Keyblade into his hand as he looked around at his surroundings. He wasn't sure exactly when it had left his hand, or how long he had been laying on the ground. What he was more concerned with was the fact that Noir was nowhere to be seen.

"Noir!" he shouted. "Where are you? Where are we?"

"Somewhere you'll be seeing quite a bit of, Sora..."

Sora whipped around to the source of the sound, but there was nothing. "Wha-?"

"This is a place deeply connected with your Heart."

Sora turned again, but there was still no one.

"If you truly are a Keyblade Master, then answer me this..."

Sora whipped around again, and he finally saw Noir. He was standing just a little bit away, but something about the way he was looking at Sora... made him look untouchable.

Noir held up his hand. In it was a lock. A padlock of sorts, though it was heavy and made of steel, and there were golden symbols and images all around it.

"Sora," Noir said. "Open Kingdom Hearts."

Sora stared at him. "W-What?"

"Are you a Keyblade Master or not?" he asked. "Open it."

"... Noir..." Sora started, wondering just how insane this guy was. "... I doubt that's Kingdom Hearts."

"Have you not seen Kingdom Hearts as a door, and a yellow moon? Why not a lock?"

"Noir-"

"Just open it."

Sora looked from his face and the lock, trying to understand what he was being asked to do. He couldn't crack the code.

"Why?"

"Only the blade made from Seven Pure Hearts or the blade of a Keyblade Master can open the seal on Kingdom Hearts. Whatever form it takes, it matters not. If you truly are a Master..."

Sora scowled and lifted his blade. He pointed it directly at the lock in Noir's hands, releasing a beam of light which streaked for the lock.

And it stopped.

Tantalizingly close it stopped, but an inch from the lock. It stayed in place for a few moments that felt like forever before the entire beam turned black and exploded, each shard of the beam turning into smoke that turned into Darkness that turned into a sphere, again swallowing them.

**Above the junk yard...**

Kairi stared into Tex's visor in horror. "Problems, kid?" the woman asked. She held up her fist and struck Kairi across the face, knocking her out and leaving a long gash along her cheek from where the armored fist had collided with her.

Tex's jet pack flared as she hurtled up higher into the sky, and soon a company of Imperial soldiers was circling around her like a sort of protective shield.

To hell with that.

Vincent Valentine shot through one one of them, sending the body careening off into a second. Their packs exploded, and took out two more of the ten Stormtroopers.

Before the others had the chance to react, Vincent, his cloak still billowing around him, gave way for three shots from his pistol, which went straight through yet another soldier. The others began to spray laser fire wildly at him as Tex sped her accent, blood from Kairi's cheek looking almost like a short banner behind them.

Vincent's cloak shot forward and whipped around another of them like a tornado, nocking the gun from the man's hands. Apparently Vincent caught it, because green lasers rapid fired in a circle around him, killing the remaining soldiers. He shot off after Tex, the now empty laser gun falling through the sky behind him.

"Eh, looks like you're more important than I thought," Tex said, looking at Kairi. "Too bad for your buddies that I'm the best."

Tex whipped around and looked down at Vincent, holding out her hand. The gun strapped to her leg flew into it, and she fired expertly at the flying cloak, despite her speed and the fact that she was handling the gun with one hand. The cloak dodged just by a thread (get it?) every time, and sent up a few shots as well, thought Tex dodged them as well, somehow managing to continue firing.

Tex's clip emptied, and she hit the button that dropped it out of her gun. Vincent fired six more rounds her way, but after they bounced harmlessly off her shield, she moved Kairi into the position of her personal human shield.

Vincent, however, was just a bit more crafty than she anticipated.

The robe shot under her, then shot straight up, and passed her... harmlessly.

But Kairi was no longer in her possession.

Tex looked up as Vincent shot off into the sky, with Kairi presumably concealed in that billowing red cloak.

"Aw, that son of a..."

**Elsewhere...**

The Darkness around Sora vanished, and he felt someone grab him from behind. He was forced to the ground, and he was pretty sure that his nose broke on impact. They were on a roof, back in Edge again.

"Tell me Sora, what is it that you fight for?" Noir asked, putting a foot on the Keybearer's head.

Sora didn't reply. Perhaps it was because there was blood running onto his lips, which were squished against the ground.

"For justice? Just because it's your job?" Noir knelt down next to him so that he was talking right into Sora's ear. "No, you fight for your friends. Isn't that right? 'My friends are my power!'. Isn't that what you said?"

Sora wanted nothing more than to stand up, run this bastard through, and then spit on him to boot. That would be appropriate.

"But now that Riku's dead, what are you fighting for?" Noir asked. He stuck his foot under Sora and turned him over so that Sora could see his face looming above him. Noir stepped off of Sora, still grinning. "Do you have other friends?"

Sora grimaced as he sat up, and then slowly got to his feet. "... My friends..." he muttered as he rose. "... I've got Donald and Goofy-"

Noir backhanded Sora with such strength that he spun through the air and landed a few feet away, almost going off the roof. "I'll get them next," Noir said, walking closer.

Sora got up again, this time summoning his Keyblade and charging Noir. "Why are you asking if you already know?"

He brought his blade down on Noir, who held up one arm. Sora's blade hit it, but Noir didn't so much as flinch. Noir twisted and snatched the blade out of Sora's hands before he even had the chance to draw back, and then called a blood red rapier into his other hand. Noir swung Sora's blade back at it's owner, who threw up a Reflect just as the blade would have come down. Sora reached out for it, and it vanished from Noir's hand, and came back to his. The spell faded just as Noir used his other blade to swipe at Sora, who parried before ducking towards Noir and swiping up through the man's chest. Noir, however, poofed out of existence and reappeared on the other side of the roof. Sora charged at him, a huge ball of fire forming around the tip of his Keyblade.

Noir lifted his off hand and thrust it out, a huge slab of ice forming and shooting at Sora. The teen released his blast and melted right through it, and then went right for Noir. Noir held up his arm again, and the spell bounced off harmlessly and few into the sky. Sora jumped and spun, his Keyblade swishing right for Noir's neck. Noir blocked with his weapon and punched Sora in the chest mid-jump. Sora flew back through the air, but stuck his Keyblade into the roof, stopping him before he flew over the edge. He set his feet down and pulled his weapon back out just as Noir fired a huge blast of Darkness at Sora.

He threw up a Reflect, but it was no good. The spell hit him and launched him backward over the edge of the building.

Sora's blade vanished as he just managed to grab the edge of the building. He looked down at the street below: the fall would be more than enough to kill him.

"In a bit of a pickle, are we?" Noir asked, suddenly appearing over him, his wavy blond hair billowing about in the wind. "Now, answer me this, Sora: What are you even fighting?"

Sora looked up at him, scowling. "Shut up already!" he screamed. "Make some sense for a change!"

"Are you fighting me?" Noir asked, ignoring Sora. "Or the Empire?"

"Both!"

"But, pray tell,_ why_?"

Sora expected the answer to come out. He wanted to throw the most logical, brave and right answer back at this man, and rub it in his face.

But he couldn't think of one.

"Because it's right!" he yelled. "The Empire is oppressing people across the galaxy, my friends included!"

"Yes, that's all fine and good," Noir said, stepping on one of Sora's hands. The Keybearer let out a yelp as Noir continued. "But, why are you fighting me?"

"... Because you... killed my friend!" Sora said through gritted teeth, tightening his other hand's hold on the side of the building.

"Ah, now that's more like it!" Noir said, grinning evilly with a fire in his eyes. "You're coming after me because of a friend! Just like the first two times you had to go on a little journey. Sure, you might have saved the galaxy, but let's face it, Sora." He knelt down, still keeping a foot on Sora's hand. "If you had a choice, you'd have never left those islands." Sora's scowl disappeared, replaced with a... shocked expression? Perhaps, a understanding expression?

_"No, no, no!" _Sora screamed internally. _"That's not true!"_

"In the end, even the Keybearer is just as selfish as everyone else," Noir said, standing back up. He lifted his foot, and Sora's hand slipped away. He held on with his remaining as he shook his other hand out, resisting the urge to scream.

"Why are you even fighting me?" Noir asked. "Clearly the only reason is that small mater of Riku's life. But, have you other motives?"

"... Jacob... said..." Sora gasped each word out.

"Screw Jacob," Noir said, stepping on Sora's other hand. "When has he ever given you reason to trust him?" Sora opened his mouth to reply, but Noir cut him off. "Just because someone helps or protects you doesn't mean they're one of the good guys. He could just be waiting for the right moment to strike..."

Sora swung his other hand up and grabbed the edge again. "I don't know what Jacob's deal is, but even if I have my doubts about him, Kairi trusts him, and she's never misjudged someone!"

"Are you sure that it's trust?" Noir asked him, raising an eyebrow. "She seems concerned for his well being... if nothing else, curious. I wouldn't go so far as to say she _trusts_ him..."

"Enough!" Sora yelled. "What are you trying to gain with all of this?"

Noir frowned. "Perhaps I have been wasting my breath on you. Really, Sora, I had hoped you wouldn't be this stubborn." He reached into his cloak and pulled out a tiny wooden...

... Music...

... Box.

_"Crap." _(A/N: Confused? Don't blame you. Go and check out the end of Chapter 19 for clarification.)

"Nighty night, Sora," Noir said, opening the box.

Instead of the soft tinkling Sora had expected, or perhaps a woman's voice, there instead came piano music that seemed so near and so real that it flooded into his mind and clogged his ears till it was the only thing he could hear. He could feel his eyes growing heavy, and the hand Noir wasn't standing on was loosening it's grip. Sora kept his head up, looking at Noir, but as soon as Noir lifted his foot, the world around Sora seemed to enter slow motion. He fell backwards off the building as the world around him began to get more fuzzy. He watched as Noir turned away from the edge, a bullet penetrated his skull, sending a large streak of blood through the air on either side of it, and a man with black hair leapt over the edge after Sora...

Sora's eyes closed as Jacob stretched his hand out toward the Keybearer.

**Above...**

Tex hovered into the back of a particularly small dropship, and closed the hatch behind her. "We missed her again. We need to fall back."

"What?" the pilot asked, turning around to look at her. "But we can overwhelm them-"

"I have very specific orders on how we're to carry out this operation, pal!" Tex barked. "Tell everyone to fall back to the fleet. And no one knows why we were here, no one knows if we got what we came for or not. Got it?"

The pilot nodded, unfazed by her behavior, clearly used to it. He turned back to the controls as Tex sat down in the back area, the ship jerking and flying upwards.

**On the ground...**

Vincent had swooped down to the streets right next to the junkyard, placed Kairi down on the ground, and promptly casted the lowest level Cure he could, sealing up the gash on her cheek. Her eyes opened slowly, and they gazed up at his ghastly face, unfocused. He dumped the spent shells out of his gun and reloaded, but when he looked up, he saw that it was unnecessary, as the Imperial forces were drawing back up into the clouds.

"You're the only reason they came," Vincent said, looking back at Kairi.

"... T... the Empire?" she asked slowly, sitting up groggily.

"Yes," Vincent answered, looking back to the sky. "Seems they think that you're of some value."

She followed his gaze. "... They're... leaving?"

"Seemed they wanted to make off with you clean," Vincent droned. "I snatched you out of the sky."

Kairi looked at him again, though he continued to stare intently up at the clouds. "... You... saved me?"

Vincent looked at her out the corner of his eye. "You ought to learn to protect yourself, Princess Kairi."

Before Kairi even had the chance to demand how he knew that, she saw Merlin, Yuffie, and Squall closing in upon them.

Yuffie was the first. She jumped through the air, threw herself at Kairi, and the two ground along the pavement for several feet before they stopped and Kairi noticed that Yuffie was hugging her. They were so close, Kairi was fairly sure that some of Riku's blood was staining into her clothes.

"I... I'm s-so sorry..." Yuffie muttered. "I should have stopped him from j-jumping out, but I just c-couldn't move fast enough..."

"Yuffie..." Kairi tried to say something. But... she just couldn't think of anything. She hadn't actually been with Yuffie for that long back during Sora's first adventure, only for a few days, but, even though she thought of the girl as a friend...

Kairi awkwardly lifted herself and Yuffie up onto their knees. "Yuffie, it's okay," she said, realizing that Yuffie was crying almost as much as Riku had been bleeding. "... What happened between you two?"

Yuffie looked her in the eyes, something that looked like guilt deep in them. "... We... I-"

"Miss Kairi!"

Yuffie let go of Kairi, got to her feet, and shuffled back a few steps from her. Kairi rose up just as Merlin ran over. "Kairi, do forgive me, I should have heard that... that, whatever it was, coming, and I should have protected you! I would have thrown more at it, but I was afraid that I would hit you-"

"Merlin, it's fine," Kairi insisted, glancing over at Yuffie again, who had taken to clutching the bloodstained patches of her clothes. "It... she got the drop on us."

"She?" Squall and Merlin asked in unison.

"Yeah, her name's Tex. She came after me and Tifa yesterday, but Cloud scared her off somehow... I think they knew each other."

There was a long pause before Squall tapped Merlin's shoulder. "Ah, yes, up you go," Merlin said, reaching into his beard and withdrawing the long wooden object, and waved the wand quickly, with Squall vanishing before their eyes.

"Where-?" "Back to the ship," Merlin answered as he put his wand back into his trusty storage-all location. "We've got your sister aboard, and... well, it's a bit hard to explain."

Kairi nodded. "I'll come up. But quickly, because we've got to go and help Sora and Jacob."

"Just where did Sora run off to?" Merlin asked.

"Noir."

Merlin's eyes flickered in such a way that suggested concealed surprise before he glanced over at Yuffie. "I think she could use a bit of help right now, too."

Kairi could barely bring herself to look at Yuffie, but eventually forced herself to approach her and put an arm around her shoulders. "Come on, Yuffie, we're gonna take you back up to the ship-"

"T-the Mabrik!" Yuffie suddenly gasped, still clutching the red-staied parts of her clothes. "Riku said that there were letters on the ship! I've got to get them!" she yelled, suddenly thrashing out of Kairi's embrace. The red head and Merlin both grabbed her and held her as still as they could, though she was kicking and screaming the whole time. "I've got to get those letters! He asked me to get those letters!"

Kairi looked up at the sky. She couldn't make out the Mabrik anywhere in the nearby sky. "Yuffie, I think the Mabrik might have gotten shot do-"

Suddenly, the blue and white ship swooped in out of nowhere and began the landing sequence right in the middle of the street. Yuffie tried to pull away from Kairi and run right to the ship while it was still landing and it's engines were firing, but the red head managed to restrain her.

Once the ship touched down, the back ramp opened, and a large, fat dog-resembling creature wearing clothes ran out. "Yuffie! I saw what happened!" he yelled, running over.

"No!" she screamed lashing her legs out towards him, with Kairi and Merlin jerking her back. "None of you saw _anything_! He died with me touching him,_ AND I COULD HAVE STOPPED HIM_!" she cried, tears flowing out of her eyes at a rate that should have been impossible.

"Merlin! Do something!" Kairi yelled over Yuffie. "She's loosing it!"

Merlin removed one hand from Yuffie to reach into his beard, again removing is wand. He touched it to Yuffie's temple and shouted, "Somnus!"

A soft pink light glowed on the tip of his wand, and Yuffie's thrashing stopped all at once as her eyes flickered shut slowly. Her knees gave way, and Kairi and Merlin almost didn't catch her from hitting the ground.

"The... the letters..." she murmured as her eyes shut. "... He told me... to..."

"That's alright, Yuffie," Merlin said, sticking his wand back into his beard. "We're gonna get those letters later, okay?"

They stood there, supporting her, with the dog staring at them for several seconds, before Kairi noticed two things very close to each other, but not exactly at the same time.

Firstly:

"Hey, where'd Vincent go?"

"Who, Kairi?" Merlin asked.

"The guy in red who saved-"

Second:

Somewhere in the city, the quietist note that she should have never heard seemed to break through the sounds of the city, of the people, the vehicles, everything. All that she could hear was the distant, but somehow still comprehendible, quiet music of a piano.

She dropped in seconds, with Merlin jumping in shock, and Yuffie falling to the ground next to Kairi.

**Thought it would be good to end this thing with all the primary players (other than Jacob) out of it. After all, Birth By Sleep is coming out soon, right? I swear, if they announce one more game after this freaking KH 3D thing, and it isn't the REAL third game, I will swim to Japan and kill Tetsuya Nomura myself...**

** Sorry. Fanboy freak-out over here.**

** Okay, so only one chapter to go before we move on to the next book! Are you absolutely ready to shoot me for screwing around with your minds yet? My story makes NO SENSE! Ah, but it will next book... More on that later.**

** Hey, I've been on this world so long that I haven't even had to do a disclaimer in, like, ages! I didn't do Barret Wallace last time around since I skipped out on author's notes (increases dramatic effect). Is that it? I think that's it. Someone tell me if I forgot someone.**

** And one thing: I know that the Empire's attack seemed completely unrelated and pointless, you're gonna see a few more consequences next chapter. Plus, I just wanted to show that Tex isn't gonna stop any time soon.**

** Okay, that's about it! See you guys soon for the exposition full, plot-hole sealing, set-up making, and otherwise non-action oriented stuff in the last chapter of Bliss of Heart.**

** Sweet! I'm a soap opera!**


	35. Problems, a Decision, and an Odd Goodbye

**Gasp! The last chapter? It's only taken me forever to finish this thing! Well, we can finish riding this crapy plot train now. Thanks to my small number of loyal readers for giving me the will to finish this.**

** And for anyone else who is coming to read this after it has been published for a few years, I've written two or three other books, and now I'm huge, I'm glad that you hopped on the bandwagon! **

** This chapter is basically wrap-up, for more than just the main characters. But, it wouldn't be my work if it didn't leave you with burning questions and doubts, would it? Oddly enough, there... really isn't much of that. It's really more about answers. Maybe THAT'S HOW I'M GONNA SCREW WITH YOUR MIND THIS TIME! YOU **_**NEVER**_** SAW **_**THAT**_** COMING!**

** Anyway, just read it.**

** Chapter 35: Problems, a Decision, and an Odd Goodbye**

** On the Shera...**

Sora and Kairi's eyes snapped open at simultaneously. After a few moments of pondering just what the heck happened, they both sat up, with the white sheets that had been covering them sliding off. They glanced to the side and saw each other, sitting in beds in the Shera's medical ward. Sora was in his boxers and a white t-shirt, and Kairi was in a white camisole.

"... What..." both of them murmured, with Sora rubbing the back of his head and cringing.

"I feel like I just lost a fight..." he groaned.

"There's a reason for that."

They both looked into the corner of the room, where, not surprisingly, Jacob was sitting on a stool, with a rather intense expression on his face, as though he was contemplating the purpose of all life as we know it.

"... Noir kicked my butt, didn't he?" Sora asked.

"Quite." Jacob stood and walked towards both of them. "You know, you've been out of it for forty-eight hours, so..."

Sora and Kairi both seemed to realize at the exact same second that they needed to relieve themselves... and might have already done so once or twice.

"There are more clothes in the bathroom," Jacob said, an ever so subtle smirk on his face, as he gestured to the two rooms in the back.

After _that _ordeal (during which both Sora and Kairi swore never ending vengeance against Jacob), Sora came out wearing a baggy t-shirt and pants that might have been Jacob's, and Kairi was wearing blue jeans with several holes and a green tank top which were both a bit small.

Kairi saw a flicker of something in Jacob's eyes when he saw her wearing that, and perhaps a louder-than-usual echo coming from his Heart, but it was gone in less than a second.

"What happened to you?" Sora asked Kairi as the two of them sat down next to each other on a bed, with Jacob carrying his stool over to him and sitting at the foot of the bed.

"... I don't know," she replied honestly. "I just... it was like the world muted. I remember hearing some sort of music, but... then it was gone. And so was I, I guess..."

"Sora, I think you recognized what happened to you, no?" Jacob asked.

"... Well, a while ago, me and Kairi had the same dream, and at the end... well, I don't really remember it that well. He said something about lullabies... do you remember it, Kairi?"

"I remember the dream, but the details are just as lost on me as they are on you," she replied, shaking her head.

"Lullabies," Jacob started with a tone that told Sora that they were in for a really long winded discussion that would lead into something about Noir and something about Kairi's life and Hearts and bla-bla-bla-bla-bla...

Or rather, that's what he would have thought just a few weeks ago. Jacob, even though Sora was still unsure about the man's sanity, proved to know just a bit too much to be ignored.

"... Are, of course, songs that parents sing to their children," Jacob continued. "However, sometimes, once in a blue moon, somehow... It becomes enchanted."

"The song does?" Kairi asked.

"If the mother sings it right after birth, or even when the child is in the womb (for instance, if they are singing to an older child), the child's brain learns that the song means 'shut down time'. But, sometimes, it just becomes magically connected to the child. The song... it puts them out instantly, and for as long as the singer wants, pretty much. Longest time possible for subjects of your age is pretty much two days, so you hit the limit. But an infant... oh, if the mother, or another singer, wanted it... a week."

"A week asleep?" Sora asked, now somewhat intrigued.

"I'd be able to tell you more, but it wasn't one of the subjects Ansem studied very often, and thus, I didn't either." Kairi saw something flare in his eyes for a few moments as he said this, but it was gone just as quickly as all real expression she could ever make out in him.

"... How much did you study under Ansem?" Kairi asked.

"Pretty much whenever I wasn't with you, or off with my family," Jacob answered, though it was hasty, and he didn't seem to want to linger on the subject.

"What did you-"

"For some reason," Jacob cut her off, "You both have exactly the same lullaby."

"... My mother on Destiny Islands never sang something that put me out instantly," Sora said.

"Sora, if you will think back to that very same dream, you might remember that Noir said you never met you real parents."

"How do you know about all this?" Kairi demanded.

"When I was being held on the Death Star, I tried for an escape, but when I realized that I wasn't going to get out, I switched tactics and decided to help from afar. After they knocked me out, I basically found your mind, Kairi, and watched the dream until it was over."

"You can... go into my dreams?" Kairi asked.

"No. I can go into your dreams only when they are in a very weakened state. For instance, when you're sharing it with someone else. You were in that dream with Noir and Sora, so it was easy to jump in, spectate, and, thankfully, pull you both out before Noir claimed you."

"Okay, this is all making about zero sense," Sora said, standing up. "One: How can you even get into Kairi's dream in the first place, and Two: How did you know that she was dreaming?"

"Answer to question One: I would tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

Sora wasn't sure if he should take him seriously or not, but Kairi was pretty sure that he was just messing with Sora at this point. Maybe she'd ask him later, when Sora wasn't around.

"Answer to question Two: I didn't know that she was dreaming. I know that Noir had pulled her into a dream with him."

Kairi and Sora looked at Jacob, then at each other, then at Jacob.

"What, were you, like, mind-melding with him?" Sora asked sarcastically.

"No, and I'd advise you to sit back down," Jacob said, a touch of venom in his voice.

Sora did as he was told just as Kairi said, "So, back to the topic... we were talking about..." she took a moment to retrace their steps, a process she knew Jacob must have been enjoying to watch, because he probably knew exactly where they got off topic and now he could just sit here and smirk at her.

"... The fact that we have the same lullaby!" Kairi said a bit too triumphantly, thrusting a finger in Jacob's direction in a very 'Ah-ha!' sort of way.

"And when we get there, we hit a wall."

"... What?" Sora and Kairi both asked.

"Can't tell you why you have the same lullaby," he answered simply, shrugging.

"..."

"No really, I have no idea."

"..."

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Do you think I was on Radiant Garden at some point?" Sora suddenly brainstormed.

"No way," Jacob replied. "Destiny Islands is your home. Besides, you would have had to be less than a week old for the lullaby to affect you, and you would have had no way of getting off of Radiant Garden except for a Corridor to Darkness, or King Mickey on a gummi ship."

"... So, do you think the King kidnapped me?" Sora threw out, at which Kairi both wanted to giggle at Sora's stupidity and groan at Sora's stupidity.

"I think it's a weird anomaly that we're never gonna figure out unless we get ourselves a time machine," Jacob answered. "Now, any more questions while I'm in a talky mood?"

"You have a mood for that?" Kairi asked.

"Uh-hu."

"How often do you have them?"

"About once in a blue moon."

Sora and Kairi both threw out the first questions that came to mind.

"What happened to Noir?" Sora blurted, suddenly realizing that Jacob had neglected to bring that up.

"What happened to the girl you were traveling with?" Kairi practically shouted, praying that he would answer.

Jacob glared at Kairi. "Mind your own business." He looked to Sora. "I killed him."

"... You did what now?"

"I killed him."

"... But... I thought you said he was, like, the god of Darkness and crap!"

"I did say that."

"... So, you're either tough enough to kill a god, or you lied."

"Fifty-fifty, isn't it?"

"You lied," Kairi wrapped up to save Sora the brain cells.

"Quite, your Majesty."

Sora raised an eyebrow at Jacob. "Why?"

"You mean, why did I lie? Because people tend to have more fear for something when they think that it's immortal. Or a deity."

Sora was about to say something else (probably something unintelligent, or so thought Kairi and Jacob), but Kairi cut him off. "So, if he wasn't a god, what was he?"

"A man."

Sora and Kairi both stared at him.

"But, of course, you don't think it could be that simple."

"It can't be if you're involved," Sora commented.

Jacob shook his head. "From what research I've been able to complete, and what research I've been able to mooch off of much wiser men like Mickey, I gather that Noir was a powerful servant of Darkness many eons ago."

"Eons?"

"A big row of numbers that no one knows the exact amount of, and even if they did, it would be far to big to say."

Kairi smiled. "I've never heard it put that way before."

"That's because you never asked me."

"I shouldn't have said anything..." Sora moaned in the background.

"Noir was cursed for his wrongdoings by a witch, who basically gave him internal life."

"How does that make any sense?" Sora sora asked with an exasperated tone.

"Yeah, she probably didn't think that through very well," Jacob replied.

"Get on with it!" Kairi interjected.

"She basically made him an actual slave to the Darkness, not just someone who could harness it's power. And true Darkness, you see, while fighting against Light, isn't nearly as aggressive as someone as messed up as Noir was. Noir didn't like sitting around and taking orders, so he just started doing whatever he wanted. Every single time he did his own thing he felt excruciating pain. Unfortunately, he continued to run about, and eventually the constant pain drove him insane."

"... And?" Sora asked, now very interested.

"And he basically started spreading the word that he was the god of Darkness, and that he was gonna screw everyone's lives up."

"So what you told us on the Millennium Falcon was total bull crap," Sora said.

Jacob considered it for a moment, and then said, "Yeah, pretty much."

"But if this guy is so strong, why isn't he... you know, better known?" Kairi asked. "You said that he started declaring himself a god of Darkness, so-"

"Ah, that's where I come in," Jacob said, smirking slightly. "You see, Noir hadn't really done anything big other than blow of a few worlds and such ('Not big!' Kairi gasped) until a couple of years ago, when he started being a bit more tactical. At first he toyed with the idea of taking over the universe, but apparently that didn't tickle his fancy."

"I'm almost afraid to ask... what did?" Sora questioned.

"Destroying the universe."

**A day before, at Seventh Heaven...**

A motorcycle streaked through Edge towards a particular bar. It screeched to a halt outside, and the driver dismounted and threw the door open.

The place was ransacked from the assault three nights ago, which Jacob and Terra apparently hadn't been bothered by enough to clean it up. Currently, no one was there, but there was a note on the bar:

"Cloud: We're all outside town on Cid's ship. Come as soon as you get back, please."

Cloud had expected to see Tifa's name at the bottom, but it was signed by Marline.

_"She's learning to write just like Tifa,"_ Cloud thought mildly as he picked up the message and got a better look at it. The penmanship was just a bit off, but otherwise, it would fool most.

He placed the message back down, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small, corked up glass beaker filled with water that seemed to glow and sparkle, despite the lack of light in the bar. He put that down next to the note, too, and then reached across the bar and grabbed a huge bottle of bourbon. He opened the bottle hastily and drank even quicker. The fight was still fresh in his mind...

_He had Kadaj cornered, but the bastard had jumped clear, and Cloud had followed... but then, somehow... Jenova turned him into Sephiroth..._

Meaningless words had been exchanged... Sephiroth had little of interest to say, other than something about how Noir was going after Sora as they spoke... Sora could take that ass hole out, no problem. And even if he couldn't, Jacob would probably be right next to him the entire time...

_ Cloud had just been pierced in about every way possible. Sephiroth's sword had been stuck through places Cloud didn't even know could be stuck, and his sweater was almost heavier than he was with blood._

_ He could hear Sephiroth land behind him... he took one open swing at him, and leapt up and slashed straight through the bastard's chest, flying past him..._

Cloud finished the bottle and tossed it at the wall, where it promptly shattered into the mess that the bar had been reduced to. He swung over the bar and started to skim through their stronger liquors.

_There was a voice behind him from where he stood, barely supporting himself anymore._

_ "Cloud," Sephiroth said, though the sound was slowly melting away to something else. "Do you want to know what happened to you friend?"_

Cloud pulled out a large, very expensive bottle of tequila, and put the bottle to his lips.

_Cloud's eyes widened as the voice vanished, and another one, that was very different, but all to familiar..._

_ "Hey... buddy..." came a voice that was pained... almost as though he had just been sliced in half. "... Maybe... it's for the best..."_

_ "... Z-Zack?"_

Cloud dropped to the floor behind the bar, the bottle that was now almost half empty missing his mouth. His arm was stinging from the stigma, but he could have cared less. What might have been tears were dripping out of his eyes, but knowing Cloud, it was probably just from the stench of his beverage.

Right?

_Cloud whipped around, but he was not met with the person that he had so wanted to see for more than ten years..._

_ "You know..." muttered Kadaj, black blood running from his waist down his legs. "What's it all for, in the end?"_

_ The Nobody's body vanished just as Cloud fell over, blood still flowing out of his body, and began to slide down the side of the very, _very_ tall building he had found himself on._

The bottle fell to the ground next to Cloud as he passed out, the many makeshift bandages covering his body seeping blood slowly.

**Present...**

"Destroying the universe?" Sora and Kairi both questioned simultaneously, Sora's tone more inquisitive, and Kairi's more... freaked out.

"He basically tried to compress everything into one tiny little spot, and... well, destroy everything. He got damn close, too."

"And _you_ stopped him," Kairi asked in a slightly unbelieving way.

"Mostly. He basically crafted his own, tiny world in a... well, even I don't really understand it. I don't think that it was even part of the universe anymore. It was too detached. But somehow, either it broke through into reality, or it pulled everything else in. The later would make more sense at this point."

"This is making about zero sense," Sora said.

"He basically drew in the entire universe towards him. He was just going to crush everything... including himself."

"What did you do?" Kairi inquired.

"Details aren't needed for this. Let's just leave it at 'I beat him'."

"But what actually _happened_?" Sora demanded.

"That world he had made fell back in on itself. I managed to make it off with a bit of help from a friend of mine. Basically swooped in and snatched me out of the sky before I got sucked into a black hole."

"You mean that you went in against him alone?" Kairi asked.

"No. It's just that... well, everyone got out, that's all that matters. Just differently than me." Kairi and Sora were probably about to ask just what that meant, and who else was there, but Jacob didn't seem to want to talk about it. "I thought that I had pretty much sealed Noir away at that point, but he managed to get back out."

"... You shot him. Just before I blacked out," Sora said, remembering the gunshot and the sudden bursts of blood on either side of Noir's head.

"Yeah," Jacob said. "Noir can be stopped, but... well, not for good. What I did to him back there, it may kill him for... oh, a week, a few months, or maybe even twenty years. There's no way of knowing how that magic on him will work. Me and Mickey spent a lot of time working on how we could finish him permanently, but we've come up empty handed thus far."

"Okay, so back to my other question," Kairi said, remembering just how they had started down this train. "Why doesn't everyone know about Noir?"

Jacob smiled. "That is one of the more interesting results of my exploits. Of the worlds Noir wrecked, he only left survivors from one: Radiant Garden."

"So?" Sora and Kairi asked, both getting a little fed up with Jacob's theatrics.

Jacob grinned just a bit wider, and but Kairi didn't feel anything behind it. "When Noir was trapped, all the terror-clutched people around the galaxy ("And, mind you, not everyone knew. There were a lot of worlds in the loop, but relatively speaking-" "Get on with it!" Kairi shouted) basically forgot that he ever even existed. He was sucked right out of reality. Only people who had been drastically touched by him... who had lost their homes and loved ones, but not themselves, could still remember him. And even then, there were mostly only foggy memories, and since Noir was the reason they weren't home anymore, without him, their memories of Radiant Garden became... obscured. The few that even wound up remembering anything only had hollow memories for it..."

"Hollow Bastion," Sora finished for him.

"Indeed, Sora," Jacob said. "I was the only one who was on Noir's world up until the very, very last second, so I'm the only one in the universe who never forgot one bit of it."

"Were there other people from Radiant Garden on there?" Kairi asked, noticing how he said he was the 'only one who stayed on until the end'.

"Yeah," Jacob answered. "But no one you know."

"Are you lying?"

"What do you think?"

"Yes."

"Well, Kairi, feel free to ask anyone, but I doubt you'll get any answers to your liking."

**Two days before, on the Shera...**

After Jacob and Kairi had so hastily departed from Seventh Heaven, Terra had been left for several hours with Marline and Denzel. After Max and Tifa had woken up, the former had promptly taken off to make sure that things had calmed down. Tifa had taken over for the most part after that, though her wounds, especially where she had been driven into the wall, still hurt considerably. She hadn't bothered to change out of her clothes, which were either torn or bloodied. The large hole in the torso showed the massive scar where she had been run through, but she did at least cover that up by wrapping a towel around her body, and carefully avoided questions about it from Marline and Denzel, not wanted to worry or disturb either.

After Max and Squall had come back to get them and take them to the Shera, Tifa had considered staying with the kids, but Squall convinced her to bring them along. Once on the ship, Terra had promptly passed out, though no one seemed to notice. Jacob would have, but he hadn't left the medical ward since Sora, Kairi, and Yuffie had been placed there.

Merlin had decided to take Rinoa off of the sedatives and try to gain her trust, since the spell would require her cooperation. Without Noir, it would be difficult, but it was decided that she be allowed to play with Marline and Denzel so as to both keep her occupied and get her more friendly with the group. When she did wake up, she was extremely scared of everyone, especially Squall (since, you know, he makes puppies commit suicide), but after a while she had at least warmed up to the two younger kids and run off with them into the ship.

After a night on the ship, there was a small meeting called in the morning. Donald and Goofy went up to the bridge to make sure the kids didn't get up there, and other more important/dangerous rooms were locked safely.

"What now?" Max asked as the group sat down. Even though he had much less field experience than the other two Disney Castle residents on the ship, they seemed to respect him a bit more.

There was no response from those others that had gathered. It seemed that none of them (Max, Tifa, Squall, Cid, or Merlin) had thought quite that far ahead.

"Well, we did come here to get Tifa," Cid commented after a few moments of silence.

"And Cloud. Kinda," Squall droned.

Tifa's eyes widened ever so slightly. "What happened to Cloud? Where is he?"

"He ran off after Sora blew up this big-ass monster," Cid answered as he lit a cigaret. "Don't know where he is now."

"He might have gone back to the bar," Tifa said, rising up rather slowly, cringing as she did so. "I'll go check and-"

"I'll go back and look for him," Max offered, standing up. "You're in no condition to go running through the city."

"Or we could just fly there," Cid said, letting a large puff of smoke roll out of his mouth shamelessly.

Shortly, Cid went to the deck to find Donald and Goofy arguing about something or other. After dismissing the two animals, claiming that they were 'giving him a goddamn head ache', he flew the ship over the city, covering what would have taken about twenty minutes walking in ten seconds.

He hovered as low as he could over the buildings and dropped the ramp towards the street, leaving about twenty feet below him.

At the ramp, Merlin and Max quickly jumped over the edge, with Merlin's magic breaking their fall. Max didn't waste any time before running up to the door, opening it, and glancing around the ransacked building only once.

"I'll look upstairs for anyone," Merlin said, stepping past Max and rather ignoring the mess, though he probably could have cleaned it in a matter of seconds.

As Merlin went up, Max took a step towards the bar, and felt glass crunch under his foot.

He looked down, and saw the remnants of a bottle he was sure hadn't been on the floor when he left before. He went closer to the bar and picked up the small glass beaker that he was _also_ sure hadn't been there before. He glanced over the counter.

"Merlin!"

The wizard came bounding back down the stairs as Max nimbly swung himself over the counter. Merlin knelt down next to Cloud and saw the bottle of tequila sitting next to him. "He's intoxicated!"

"... Uh, and _wounded_."

"That too!"

**Present...**

"... So, where are we going now?" Sora asked, deciding that, perhaps, they just weren't going to get any more out of Jacob today.

Kairi, however, was more persistent. "Was Rinoa there?" Kairi asked desperately. "You might as well tell me because you know that she will!"

Jacob looked slightly awkward as he leaned back and scratched his head. "Actually, I don't think she's in much of a position to tell you anything."

Kairi felt something inside her flare up.

"What happened?" she yelled, jumping up and flinging her arms outward so fast that she slapped Sora in the face, and narrowly missed Jacob, who pulled a half-Matrix on his stool and then got back up, somehow not tipping the stool over.

"If you will recall, before I put you under back in Seventh Heaven... three days ago now?... Cloud said that Rinoa was younger." He stood from his stool so that he was no longer below Kairi, but instead towered over her by several heads. If he was trying to intimidate her or just simply standing up, Kairi couldn't tell, but her expression of both worry and anger was still apparent on her face. "Noir was quite familiar with her when she was living on Radiant Garden."

"I thought you said that Noir went around telling everyone he was the bad guy," Kairi asked as they both continued to ignore Sora, who was beginning to moan something about Kairi watching where she threw her hands.

"Ah, but he didn't just blow up Radiant Garden," Jacob responded. "He wanted to have a bit of fun with it. Even though nowadays Radiant Garden is a pretty open and everyone knows about other worlds, at one point in time it was just as unknowing as Destiny Islands."

"He came in and... acted like a human?" she asked. Her angry expression was melting, and she was looking much more calm, but also concerned.

"Yeah. He was very good friends with your mother before she gave birth, and consequently, was very good friends with Rinoa. In fact, he was her godfather."

Kairi managed to mouth a questioning 'Noir?', but no sound came out.

"She loved him almost like a parent. He was on par with your mother and father. However, when you were born, and your parents became a bit preoccupied with you. You were the favorite child, even though they still loved Rinoa. Any sibling takes getting a new one badly, but Rinoa, even though she was nine at the time, still took it rather... well, let's leave it at badly."

"She went to Noir for a father," Kairi said.

"Precisely. However, one day, Noir just... vanished."

"Why? Where did he go?"

"I can't answer that. I just don't know. And I swear to you, I'm not lying. He went away just about when you turned one, and even though your parents got a little more time to spend with Rinoa, she was left pretty badly scared. Her near constant companion and guidance since she was a toddler was just gone from her life... and in exchange, she got you."

"Did she hate me?" Kairi asked, now looking almost worried.

"For a while, yes. But then, she realized that you needed someone like Noir had been for her. She decided that she would be your constant companion, and that she would never abandon you like her closed friend had done to her."

There was a long moment of silence, which, for once, Sora wasn't even tempted to break.

"When Noir came back and destroyed the world?" Kairi finally asked, somewhat gravely.

"He was more of a... behind the scenes guy at that point. When she did find out later on, yes, she hated him even more, because she saw that he had been evil all along, and that he had never loved her."

Again, there was a long moment of silence. Then, Kairi seemed to remember that they had started talking about this because Noir had magic-ed Rinoa.

**Several hours before, on the Shera...**

Cloud was carried into the medical wing by Merlin, who was actually cheating and using magic. The wizard had sealed up most of Cloud's wounds, but they would need to look him over more carefully to see if he had suffered any internal damage.

Merlin successfully ignored Jacob and Tifa, the former of whom did little more than look up when they entered, and the latter of whom began barraging Merlin with questions.

After Merlin had concluded that Cloud had suffered no major injuries to any organs, he departed and left Tifa to hover over his bed. She had decided to let Marline and Denzel continue to distract Rinoa and not revert their minds to Cloud.

After almost an hour of silence and virtually no movement from anyone other than the time when Tifa had almost fallen asleep in the stool Jacob had fetched for her, Cloud flinched. Tifa almost jumped, but didn't, and instead grabbed Cloud's hand. Cloud let out a soft moan that didn't sound very pained, and Tifa could only look hopeful at that point. Jacob didn't bother to look up until he heard Cloud starting to say something.

Cloud released several of those sort of clicking noises that one might when part of a letter tries to come up through your throat, but that was more that enough to excite Tifa.

"Cloud!" she said almost breathlessly, clutching his hand just a bit tighter. "Cloud, it's Tifa!... Can you hear me, Cloud?"

"... A... A... Aeri..."

Jacob got up off his stool and took a step towards the bed, tilting his head to the side curiously.

"Cloud, you're safe now..." she said horsely "... I-it's Tifa, Cloud."

"...Aeri... Aerith..."

Tifa let go of his hand, let out something like a whimper, and then jumped up and bolted out of the room, with what might have been tears falling out of her eyes.

"... Aerith... Zack... he wanted me to..." Cloud continued, his eyes still squeezed shut.

Jacob came over and sat down next to him. "What did Zack say, Cloud?"

"... He could... make her better..."

"How?"

"... The water..."

"What water, Cloud?"

But Cloud said no more.

After several minutes, Jacob decided that he would rather torture Tifa than tell her what Cloud said after she left (or, at least he would for a little while), and he instead ran off to find Max or Merlin.

The wizard was the one he found first, but his answer as to if he had seen any water at the bar wasn't exactly helpful.

"I should say that there were plenty of other liquids! The shame!"

Max was a bit more helpful.

"I thought this thing was a bit out of place," he said, reaching into his jacket and withdrawing the beaker. "But how did you know-?"

Jacob had already snatched the beaker out of Max's hands and fled the room.

Jacob burst back into the medical ward and went to Cloud's side again.

"Cloud, what does this water do?" Jacob demanded, though he didn't really expect an answer from the unconscious man.

"... Cures... stigma..."

"Cloud," Jacob said again, kneeling down next to him and looking right at the side of Cloud's face. "What is the stigma?"

"... Aerith... and... I... Edge..."

This stuff would cure what Aerith had. That was, if Cloud wasn't just dreaming something crazy as a result of the tequila.

Jacob could relate.

But he said 'and I'... did he have it?

Jacob checked his hairline, his shoulder blade, and neck: all the places Aerith had been infected. Lastly, he checked Cloud's arm, rolling up the sleeve. Sure enough, it was covered with the same blackness Aerith had been infected with.

Jacob pulled the cork out of the beaker and carefully let a singe droplet find it's way over the edge. It fell, and landed right on the deseeded skin. There was a soft, green glow, and almost instantly, the blackness vanished.

Jacob could only stare for a few moments before he realized just what this meant. He put the cork back in and bolted out of the room.

**Present...**

Kairi, Sora, and Jacob went through the halls searching for someone to direct them towards Marline, Denzel, and Rinoa (or perhaps, the kids themselves), despite the fact that Jacob seemed very opposed to the idea.

"I really don't know if someone as close to her as you should be put into such close proximity," Jacob continued, though neither cared very much. Perhaps they should have learned by now that what he said just might be important, huh? "She didn't even recognize Squall in the least, so you approaching her may be met with nothing, or it could cause some sort of fakey-sci-fi-paradox-thingy."

"You don't sound all that sure of yourself," Sora said, glancing over his shoulder at Jacob, who was at the rear of the group, with Kairi leading the way.

"Well I'm not, that's the thing! I've never seen this kind of magic in action before! Had I been here, I would have made sure that Squall wasn't anywhere near her when they woke her up, or anyone else for that matter!"

Kairi stopped abruptly, and Sora ran into her. After Jacob stopped just in time and Sora bounced back into him, Kairi turned on her heel and looked back at Jacob, smirking. "Seems like you're easier to get information out of than I thought."

"I don't know what-"

"Don't think I haven't been wondering!" Kairi said in an excited, almost mocking tone. "After you put me out with that Tifa comment, and after I passed out when Cloud said that he knew me... I had been guessing, but now I know..."

She got right up in Jacob's face (not exactly, as she was standing on her toes and her eyes still only got to his shoulders) and said, "Rinoa and I knew some of the others when we lived on Radiant Garden, didn't we?"

"That seems logical."

"Ah-ha! Of course you don't admit- Did you just say what I think I might have heard you say?"

Jacob shrugged. "I think your idea makes sense. Feel free to go about asking everyone on the ship if they knew you when you were younger."

Kairi dropped back down to her normal hight and backed up a bit, as if she wanted to look him over once or twice and try to read him. "... You mean that?"

"Sure."

**Only a few hours ago now...**

After Jacob's miraculous discovery, they decided to head back to Radiant Garden and cure Aerith. After Jacob managed to track down Tifa, she hastily, but clumsily, dried her eyes and attempted to pretend she hadn't just been crying as he asked her more about the stigma. She explained that a large chunk of the world had been infected, and then Jacob began to ponder if the Rebellion would perhaps have the ability to reproduce the liquid on a massive scale.

Jacob managed to convince Squall to fly the Mabrik behind them, with P.J. aboard.

About two hours into the fourteen-hour transit, after Jacob had returned to his duty of hiding in the corner of the medical ward, Yuffie woke up. Jacob felt her presence, but when she didn't rise, he respected her enough not to approach her. When she did after several minutes, she walked to the bathroom, came back out, and left the room to find out where she was, without more than a glance at any of the other sleeping figures. Apparently, either she ignored or didn't notice Jacob, who moved nothing more than his eyes as she went about the room.

Jacob only had to wait a little longer before Cloud stirred as well. He lay there for quite a bit longer than Yuffie, but after a while, he reached over and clutched his arm.

"It's gone."

"Yes, it is," Jacob said, still not moving.

Cloud sat up, looking directly at Jacob with the same cold, glaring eyes he always carried about with him unless he was in the company of Tifa, Marline, and Denzel. "You didn't waste that stuff on me, did you?"

"Only a drop," Jacob replied, not even looking directly at Cloud, but rather at the patch of floor he had been trying to burn a hole through with his gaze for the last two days. "You weren't exactly around, and I wanted to see if it worked."

"How did you know-?"

"You talk in your sleep. Didn't Tifa ever tell you?"

"We've never slept together."

Jacob looked up at him. "Because you're just 'not that kind of person' or because-"

"Shut up," came Cloud's two favorite words.

Jacob considered a sarcastic grin, but he didn't really feel like grinning right now anyway. It would be a waste of effort at this point. Plus, it just wasn't what Cloud needed.

"Did you see Zack?" Jacob asked.

Cloud seemed hesitant to reply.

"You said that he had asked you to take care of Aerith. But, you said her name before you said anything else."

Cloud gave Jacob a very 'so?' look.

"Tifa only heard that part. After she had sat next to you for ages."

Something deep in Cloud's cold eyes looked mortified.

"Where-?"

"She ran out, crying."

Cloud's head fell into his hands.

"You could just go and talk to her," Jacob suggested.

"I... what would I say?" Cloud asked, looking up at him.

"You two have been living together for two weeks and some change. Does she care about Marline and Denzel?"

"Yeah, I gue-"

"Does she care about you?"

"I don't kn-"

"Did Barret show any signs of wanting Marline back any time soon?"

"That's not fair, she's his kid!"

"How long have you been taking care of them now, Cloud?"

"..."

"Cloud?"

"... A... a couple of months... Or so..."

"Go in there and say that you think Marline and Denzel really need people to take care of them. And then say that you think that you two would fit the bill. Even after Marline goes back to her father, you two would still have Denzel, right?"

"Denzel!" Cloud exclaimed, jumping out of the bed. "He had the stigma! He needs-"

Jacob stood and held up the beaker. "You're going to talk with Tifa first."

Cloud looked from Jacob's face, to the beaker, and back to Jacob's face.

"You, Cloud Strife, are going to go find Tifa Lockheart and tell her that you think that you two should continue to be parent figures to Marline and Denzel."

Cloud glanced at the door. "... Do you know where she is?"

"Do you know your way around the ship?"

"... Yeah."

"Because you came aboard to see Aerith."

"... Yeah."

"And Tifa?"

"... It was harder to catch her asleep."

**Present...**

Kairi had split up from Sora and Jacob, and, unbeknowns to her, Jacob had split away from Sora, leaving Sora standing very lonely-ish in the middle of a hallway until Donald came sauntering along and invited him back to his room where he, Goofy, Max, and Cid had been about to commence in a game of poker.

"I've never played," Sora had replied.

"Goofy'll explain it to you, then."

"Goofy?"

"He's... er... very good at poker."

**Elsewhere...**

Jacob happened upon two particular rooms which were within a hallway or so of each other, and both contained to rather interesting cases. The first door was closed, but Jacob could feel two presences inside, and could also see simply by looking at the door that the lights were out inside.

Resisting the urge to enter, he went to the door down the hall, which was just slightly agar. He could hear what might have been very quiet sobbing coming from inside.

He pushed the door open to find one of the many bare spare bedrooms that could be found riddled about the Shera. Yuffie was curled up on a bed, her head towards the window, outside of which countless stars were shooting past every passing second.

"Hey," Jacob said as he closed the door behind him. Yuffie's crying suddenly stopped, but in exchange, she made absolutely no noise.

Jacob then asked that very obvious question that all of us find ourselves asking a person who is clearly not okay at some point in our lives.

"You doing okay?"

"... No."

Jacob took a step closer to the bed. "What's the problem?"

"... I think I might have loved someone."

"You think?"

"I don't know what love feels like."

Jacob came right up next the the bed and leaned against the wall. "I think that love is a difficult emotion to categorize. It feels different for everyone out there. Depends on who's feeling it, and who they're feeling it for. That simple."

"But how can you tell? It could just as easily be so many other emotions."

Jacob smiled as he sat down on the bed next to her and looked down at her tear-covered face, which still gazed somewhat blankly out the window. "Because it's always the one that you can't understand, can't express, and can't name."

"... I think I can name it."

"Really? How do you name it?"

"Riku."

Jacob managed to get an arm under Yuffie and sit her up. He hugged her like he had known her for a very long time, and for all you know, he just might have. But then again, even if he hadn't known her, anyone could see that this was about what she needed.

"Jacob?" she asked after several minutes of silence.

"Yeah, little miss Great Ninja?"

"I... I forget. What was yours called?"

**Elsewhere...**

Kairi had entered the bridge, where she finally found the three children gazing out at the universe, with Terra tiredly overseeing from the above platform. Kairi walked up behind her, and Terra jumped a bit when she noticed the girl's arrival.

"You... you startled me," Terra murmured, not looking Kairi in the eyes, but instead down at her shoes.

"Sorry," Kairi said honestly before looking away from Terra's bowed head and down at the kids. Her eyes snagged on Rinoa for a few moments, but Kairi managed to pull herself back to reality. "So, you've been watching them?"

"Yes," Terra said hastily, looking back up. "Being around them... even when I'm not interacting with them... It feels weird. A bit like what it feels like to be around Jacob, but... different.

Kairi realized that Terra probably had very different feelings about Jacob than she herself felt.

"You like him?" Kairi asked carefully, glancing at Terra out the corner of her eye.

"... I... I don't know much about those sorts of things," she said awkwardly, with a bit of a humorless laugh accompanying the words.

"... Yeah, Jacob..." Kairi said. "He's a strange guy."

"He is?"

"Well, I guess that's just opinion."

"O-opinion?"

Kairi turned her head totally towards Terra. "You do know what that is, right?"

"O-of course!" Terra replied, flustered. "I just don't have very many of my own, you see. Opinions, that is."

Kairi raised an eyebrow. _"I can see why Jacob's so interested in her,"_ Kairi thought to herself. _"She's a walking experiment on the mind and Heart."_

"You're a bit weird, too," Kairi giggled, looking back down at the kids.

"Is that bad?" Terra asked, now extremely concerned.

"Not at all," Kairi said, turning back at her and smiling. "I've never met someone with amnesia, so I guess I don't really know what you should be acting like."

That wasn't exactly true. She had met herself, even though she couldn't very well remember those first few weeks on Destiny Islands. She had been told that she had been in shock most of the time. So, she supposed that Terra was taking it better than she had.

Then again, Terra was also twelve years older than Kairi had been at the time.

"I'm gonna go down and talk with the kids," Kairi told Terra, leaving the blond to her thoughts as she descended down to the glass wrap-around.

"Hey, Kairi!" Marline greeted her instantly when she came down. Kairi was sure that the girl had noticed her arrival before, but the girl had been polite enough not to interrupt Kairi's conversation with Terra.

"Hey Marline," Kairi said, smiling down at her. "What were you guys doing?"

"Just watching the stars," Marline replied. She turned and pointed towards Rinoa, who had shyly backed away a bit when Kairi had come down to join them. "Have you met Rinoa yet?"

"Can't say I have," Kairi replied half-honestly, looking at her yet-to-be-sister. She stepped around Marline and approached Rinoa, getting down on her knees. Rinoa looked as though she wanted to bolt, but Marline came to her side and held her shoulder reassuringly. Denzel watched on with a somewhat detached feeling.

"H-hello," the five-year-old said timidly.

"Hi," Kairi replied with a smile. "My name's Kairi. And Marline said yours was Rinoa."

"Uh-hu," she replied. "I'm from Radiant Garden."

"Radiant Garden?" Kairi asked, giggling. "Then however did you get out here?"

"My uncle Noir brought me out on a trip," she replied. "I don't really remember how we got out to that cliff... he said that it was a surprise for me, and he had brought me while I was sleeping."

"Do you know where Noir is now?" Kairi asked, trying to sound as sweet as she could with that name coming out of her mouth.

"The men who woke me up said that they were friends of his, and that Noir was busy," Rinoa answered. She looked around quickly, and then motioned for Kairi to come closer. The red-head complied, and Rinoa whispered, "I'm not sure I trust them. I think they might be kidnapping me."

"Kidnapping you?" Kairi gasped. "Whatever makes you think that?"

"I'm not sure, but that always seems to happen to Princesses in the stories," Rinoa replied.

Kairi couldn't help but laugh inwardly. _"She was a real princess, wasn't she? Kinda ignorant, but still... I don't really know. I wonder if I was like this... if I changed to more of... well, what I was... after I lost my memories..."_

"Well, just so that you know, I'm a princess too," Kairi told her in an equally hushed voice.

"You are?" both Rinoa and Marline asked simultaneously, since neither knew that she actually _was_.

"Uh-hu. And I think that if both of us are on here together, the just might have kidnapped us."

Rinoa gasped, though Marline quickly caught on. "You know, I'm a princess too," she put in. "From the kingdom of Seventh Heaven."

"Really?" Rinoa asked. "Is that far from Radiant Garden?"

"Oh, very," Marline replied. "But, I'm not sure where we are now."

"I think that we might be in space," Kairi said.

The three of them looked out at the stars whizzing by the ship.

"... But, I thought that might have just been magic, or an illusion," Rinoa said. "I've read about those before."

"No, I think that we're being taken to another world."

There was a very long silence.

"... But... I didn't think that other worlds were real," Rinoa whispered, even hoarser than they had been.

"Well, I think that they might be," Kairi said.

"I think that Denzel might be from another world," Marline said. She motioned for Denzel to come over, who had been feeling quite left out, while at the same time reminding himself that he was a boy and didn't play princess. After a few seconds of contemplation, he came over and joined the group.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Are you from another world?" Marline asked, giving him a small wink that was more like a blink than a wink.

"Yes, of course," Denzel answered, deciding that he might as well play along until he could figure out just what it was that they had been whispering about.

"He must be a prince," Kairi suggested. Denzel was slightly afraid that he would get pulled into this as either a knight or a prince, but he decided that, if it would free him from his boredom, he would participate in just about any activity at this point.

"Yes, I'm the prince of Sector Six," he answered. "Could you girls please get me up to speed as to what is happening here?"

And so they went on, hatching plans to escape from the kidnappers, with Terra watching on, wondering what it would have felt like to join in, but afraid to get any closer.

**At the same time, on Radiant Garden...**

Dr. Cid stood overlooking the command room of the Resistance's bace, with a somewhat absent expression on his face as someone or another read him a report that basicly said everything was the same as it had been when someone else had read him the same report six hours ago.

"Ah, and we receved a message from the Shera, sir," said the man, arriving at the only part that would intrest Cid.

He looked at the man who had been reading to him. "The message?"

"They were returning to Radiant Garden. They sent the message about five hours ago, and the transit takes about fourteen hours total."

"... Thank you, that will be all," Dr. Cid said, before turning and leaving the room.

**In the streets...**

Zidane and Stitch jumped from roof to roof, with Zidane bending down so low that his nose was almost touching the ground, yet he still continued to run alongside the blue-furred ball of death. As they came close to the open plaza in which they had duked out with Stormtroopers alongside Jacob, they stopped, and Zidane went prone on the shackled roof they found themselves on.

They could see a girl of fifteen or so going up to the entrence of the base, the door to which was guarded by several Rebel soldiers weilding laser rifles.

"What are they saying?" Zidane asked his partner in crime. Stitch rose up just a bit, but not enough to be noticed, and lifted up an ear.

"State your buisness," one of the guards said in a very monotonus tone, as though he already knew exactly why she was there.

"I'm here to see the prisoner."

"You know where to find him," the guard said, not bothering to give her a pass key, since she already had one from her many visits to Fox, and, before they departed, Sora and Kairi, though the three had spent most of their time topside.

Stitch lowered his ear as she went inside. "She to see Fox again. Ih. Ih."

"What's her deal with that guy...?" Zidane wondered in whisper. Stitch shrugged next to him, and Zidane shrugged as well, and then they both rolled off the roof and into the back of a truck, after which they jumped out into an alley, unseen to all.

**Inside...**

Emily walked into the cell, and was met, as expected, with large iron bars and a man who's back was turned to her. He was sitting down, indian style, and apparently uninterested in whoever it was that had come to visit her.

"... Fox?"

He turned his head toward her, and though he was still wearing his armor (without all weaponry and modifications, of course), his helment was off, reveiling a shaved head and a large, ugly scar that seemed to ripple down the left side of his face and then spike off around his eye in several different directions. One direction went to his nose, which was subsequently missing a left nostral. Another went towards his ear, where he had lost his lobe.

"Hey, Emily," he said in a somewhat gloomy voice. "Why are you back here?"

"I... I just... wanted someone to talk to."

"Aren't Sora and Kairi back yet?"

"... I can't tell you that. They said that I couldn't-"

"It's fine, it's fine..." he groaned, turning away. "I get it. When you're around, I forget that I'm behind bars..."

"... That other soldier..." Emily started. "... Well, I haven't wanted to ask it, but... are you a double agent?"

"..."

"I mean, you're locked up in here, but I was thinking, maybe you just haven't met with people high up enough in the Rebellion-"

"I'm not a double agent, Emily"

There was a long pause, and Emily was sure that the people listening in on the conversation were glad that she had gotten that out of him for them. She hated that, but...

"So... you're with the Empire?"

"I work for the Empire. That doesn't mean I like my job."

"B-but..." she stammered out. "Can't you just... quit?"

"Never heard of a contract, have you kid?"

Again, there was a long silence.

"Fox-"

The door to the room was thrown open, and two men came in and grabbed Emily by her arms, like they always did. "Your time's up. Get out of here."

They dragged her out, and threw her uncaringly onto the floor outside the room, and slammed the door to Fox's cell shut.

**Elsewhere on Radiant Garden...**

The cliffs had been cleared away on either side of the castle, and now that they were able to get power back up again, Chip and Dale were prepared to try and hover out of the Great Maw. Several of the men who had lead the 'excavation' were opposed to the idea, and wanted to try and straighten the castle and then try and lift off, but Chip and Dale were convinced that they were good enough at piloting the massive craft that they could maneuver it out without wasting the time and resources that would be required to straighten the castle.

To few people's surprise, they managed to lift the castle into the air slightly, twist and turn a bit, and get out of the Maw just about, but not quite, perfectly straight. The went over to the flat, baron purple landscape to the side and landed properly.

King Mickey and Queen Minnie observed to proceedings from the wall surrounding Radiant Garden.

"You ready to go home?" Minnie asked him, giving his hand a little squeeze.

"Well, considering the fact that I'd been suffering from cabin fever inside my own castle, maybe we should go somewhere else for a while."

Minnie looked at him inquisitively. "But everyone will need you there when they're settling back in on Disney Castle-"

"Well, I suppose," Mickey replied. "But the Rebellion is gonna have to clear out any Imperial presence there first, and it could be a few weeks before everyone is ready to start that little venture."

"Mickey," Minnie sighed. "We're not going on vacation." Mickey opened his mouth to say something about that, but Minnie cut him off. "I know that you like the open road, and wondering about, but... you have a duty, you know."

There was a long pause between the two of them, before Mickey said, "I know that. But..."

Minnie decided that it was time to shut him up, and kissed him. It wasn't more than a second or so long, but when they drew back, Minnie said, "We'll figure it out. Together."

**Elsewhere...**

The room was dark. There was a grated floor, under which there were glowing red lights, but they had been dimmed considerably. The walls and ceiling were black, as was the very futuristic looking door.

Two very futuristic looking people were sitting at a very futuristic looking table, and one was standing next to it. All three were covered in armor, and all three seemed to be having a staring contest.

Except, of course, for the fact that it's very easy to cheat at a staring contest when one is wearing a helmet, since, obviously, your opponent cannot see your eyes.

"Agent Texas," Captain Sienex said, addressing the armored woman sitting across from him. "What have you to say for yourself?"

"You didn't send me in with enough men," Tex replied sarcastically, her arms crossed.

"We sent you in with half the damn marine force for that sector!" Sienex yelled. "I don't care if you're just a sarcastic bastard, I'm not going to take anything that has anything to do with manpower as an excuse! And I doubt that Lord Vader is either!"

Tex's helmet moved lazily towards the man in black, who was towering far above them. "I noticed that you're the one who sent me on this mission in the first place, and yet you haven't said anything."

Vader's deep voice filled the room. "I've no use for an instrument so blunt and emotion ruled as you," he said. "The Director of Project Freelancer will be most displeased that his favorite subject failed at a simple kidnapping."

"So what?" Tex asked. "Plenty of agents have gotten screwed worse that me before-"

"But you are the exceptional," Vader cut her off. "You are the best. That's why I called you for this job specifically. I suppose that Washington will just take over as top agent over there after this."

"Look, what the hell do you care?" Tex demanded, a chord having obviously been struck. "Just let me go back and get burned, then!"

"Ah, but we're here to save you from that terrible fate, sweetheart," Sienex said. "Since you aren't in much of a position to go back to your former workplace, Vader and I were wondering if... you might join a little troupe?"

Tex shifted in her chair, looking back to the captain. "... What kind of troupe?"

"A group of the best in the Imperial army," Sienex replied. "We recently lost several throwaways on a very short-notice mission, and two high-rollers. We are planning on..._ closing _the group up a bit."

Tex shifted again. "Meaning?"

"An elite force of the best high-rollers from the Empire," Sienex answered simply. "You'd be a... liaison of sorts from Project Freelancer."

"But, what will the Director-"

"I have already informed him that I was very pleased with your work," Vader came in. "And have informed him that the Emperor himself has requested that you continue to serve under me."

"Is that bull?"

"The Emperor respects my decisions."

"Do we have a deal?" Sienex asked, leaning across the table a bit and holding out his hand.

Tex looked between the hand and Vader, then back again, and shook it.

"You will be receiving orders in a few day's time," Sienex said, releasing her and drawing back. "Someone will be outside to direct you to your accommodations."

Tex stood, nodded at Sienex, and then at Vader, and turned and walked out the door.

"Do you think that we should really punish Dice by taking away the Omega A.I.?" Sienex asked as soon as the door was sealed.

"I'm sure that it was what made him behave so erratically," Vader replied simply. "I believe that Tex will be the perfect recipient."

"Yeah," Sienex chuckled. "They both like to blow shit up, and they're both bat-shit insane."

Lord Vader did not find this humorous.

"You should know that General Kefka has been wanting to see you rather badly," Vader said after several moments of silence that were probably only awkward for Sienex.

"Kefka, sir?" Sienex asked, standing up. "Why would he be looking for me?"

"He was the one who requested that you obtain the Esper while on the Radiant Garden raid," Vader replied.

"She was the reason we didn't make off with any of them," Sienex grumbled.

"He left her behind after his successful invasion of Radiant Garden, and... he very much wants her back."

"Can't you control him, sir?"

"... The Emperor likes him, unfortunately," Vader replied, some sting and distain in his voice. "He always seems to have an interest in those who are..."

"Completely (R-Rated)ing mental?"

"That's close enough."

**Somewhere in the deep, dark, empty recesses of the galaxy...**

Drifting about in the blackened space was a castle that we haven't heard about for several chapters now, containing characters that we also haven't heard about for several chapters now. Does that make them unimportant? I think not!

Several of the villains had gathered for a sort of 'variety night', during which they all exhibited some of their abilities, and perhaps even taught the basics to the others. Kaa gave instruction on the basics of rhythm and patters that enslaved the mind (which several of the more magic-apt villains caught onto rather quickly), Hades gave a few simple fire magic lessons and some very simple spells that could bring inanimate objects (such as dead people) to life, Captain Hook demonstrated some swordplay (which failed to impress many of the others).

Some of the newer villains also demonstrated their abilities. A young man with odd hair displayed several technological weapons off (no one really cared much), a strange half-human half-something else showed off some magic (none of which worked properly and got her booed off the stage), a large creature that looked a bit like a scorpion-human hybrid with no stinger showed off some acrobatics and lying capabilities (even a villain with magic that could detect lies couldn't figure him out), and several others.

Maleficent did not attend, for recently all she had received from the villains was slander for 'waiting for the right moment to strike' and 'letting Noir do all the work'. Part of her knew that they were all correct, and that she should just stop stalling. Another part of her wanted to strike them all down with lightning bolts, resurrect them, and make them all bow down to her for questioning her authority.

But truly, what excuse could she hold on to? Now that Noir was gone, if she didn't start putting her agents to better use, they might just walk out on her. Sure, she had some of them looking for things, and building relationships, and camping out locations, and running experiments, but she knew that if they didn't see some action very soon that she was done for.

She waved her hand over her crystal ball, which had just been showing the villain's meeting. It changed, and showed the Shera streaking through space.

_"I'll watch a little longer,"_ she told herself. _"I'll have a plan in the next twenty-four hours, and they _will _accept it."_

She hoped.

**On the Shera...**

Kairi spent the last several hours playing with the girls, with Terra always looming in the background, wherever they went. At several times Kairi had been tempted to invite her over, but she wasn't sure if Terra would understand her words. Rinoa was extremely scared of her, but Kairi managed to convince her that Terra was just another prisoner, and not a guard, but she was not feeling well. Kairi wasn't sure if Rinoa believed her, but either way, Rinoa was still rather intimidated by the extremely shy and witless girl.

Later, Kairi managed to sneak away for a few fleeting moments to ask how much longer they had on the ship.

"About eight hours," replied Merlin, who just happened to be the first person she could reach. "Have you been... building a relationship with Rinoa?"

"Yeah," Kairi replied. "It's really weird... will she remember any of it when we get he back to normal?"

"She'll remember it running tandem with her real memories," Merlin replied, "Which means they'll most likely be fuzzy."

"Well, I really feel like I'm gaining some insight on her," Kairi said, clearly excited. "It's like I'm getting back the time with her that I don't remember!"

"What have you been doing?" Merlin asked.

"... Well, playing princesses, really," she replied in a somewhat embarrassed tone. "... She thinks that she's been kidnapped."

"And this is an idea that she came up with all on her own?"

"... A little?" she suggested.

"Kairi..."

"I thought it would be a good way to gain her trust!" Kairi insisted. "Look, she's gonna miss me any moment, and there's another question that I want to ask you."

"Which is?"

"Do you have any way that you could... I don't know, put us in an illusion of sorts? So it looks like we've escaped?"

Merlin pondered for a few moments, then snapped his fingers. "In ten minutes, there will be a book on the deck of the ship. Open it when the kids are close to you. Okay? Oh, and by the way, time moves much slower while you're in there. An hour is more like two or three. Okay?"

"... Uh-"

But Merlin had already poofed away to retrieve Winnie-the-Pooh's story book.

**Elsewhere...**

Yuffie had passed out about an hour ago under Jacob's watchful eyes, but not under his listening-ful ears, which were trying to listen down the hall for any noise from the room he was sure was Cloud's and Tifa's. Not a whisper, but then again, he was a ways away, and their door was shut.

Jacob took another glance at Yuffie before he stepped out, sliding the door shut as silently as he could. He walked down the hall much more silently, because he was very good at walking down hallways silently.

He came to the door and listened very carefully, which happened to be another thing he was very good at.

Nothing. Jacob thought that he could hear fait whispering, but nothing more than that, and he couldn't make any of it out.

He turned and walked back to Yuffie's room just as silently as before. She entered, and found that Yuffie was waking. She sat up, stretched, then seemed to remember life, and promptly looked like she wanted to shoot herself. She looked up at Jacob, who quickly positioned himself to make it look as if he hadn't moved.

"Have you been staring at me this whole time?" Yuffie asked.

"... Kinda."

She gave a very subtle laugh. "That's a little creepy, Jacob..."

Jacob came over and sat at the foot of her bed. "Hey Yuffie, would it bother you too much to tell me a bit about Riku?" He already knew the answer. He always was good and delving into people's Hearts... that, and he had some phycological training.

"... No, I don't suppose it would..." Yuffie said. She looked directly into his eyes. "... He... he was..." Yuffie suddenly felt herself at a loss for words. She had never felt for a man like she had for Riku, so what had suddenly come over her?

"I know what it's like," Jacob said comfortingly. "You love someone, but... you don't even know why."

"What was it like for you? With her?"

Jacob shook his head. "I couldn't put words to it for the longest time. When I knew her I couldn't, after she was gone, I didn't even want to think about her, so I didn't try, but now..." A faint smile found it's way onto his face. "... She could flow into you like water. She could find her way deep down into all the cracks, and see right through you, and understand exactly what you were thinking. And yet, you liked it. Because the water filling up those cracks felt good. It was warm, and gentle, and it was still naive enough to not always look for the right things, but that was what you loved about it."

"She... she really was naive. She never knew where she was, or where she was going, or what she was doing... but she had dreams, things she wanted to accomplish, even if she hadn't gotten to the first step yet. But I loved that. It was the opposite of everything that I had thought about life, and I... I was fascinated with it. Much later I realized it was because she had lived a pretty sheltered life, and... well, I kind of stripped that away from her all at once."

"Did you feel guilty?" Yuffie asked him.

"A bit. But, the feeling was a bit clouded by the anger and frustration that came when I had to do what I did to save her, and still lost her."

"... Have you seen her again since then?" Yuffie questioned.

"I went back once, about a year afterwards. I waited until she was asleep to try and see her, but I still couldn't get anywhere near her."

A long pause.

"... So, she's just as dead to you as Riku is to me?"

"It's never easy, Yuffie. Don't expect it to be."

Again, silence.

"I don't even know if he loved me back."

"Yuffie, I never even got a second of face time with the guy," Jacob said, shrugging at her from the other side of the bed. "I'm not that good."

"I know, I know..." she bowed her head, "... I just..."

"It may sound cold, Yuffie," Jacob put in. "But, perhaps, there's a bit of good that came out of this."

She looked up, eyes that had been tearful suddenly burning with rage. "A BIT OF GOOD? HOW THE HELL CAN YOU SAY THAT?"

"Now you don't have to worry about him not returning the emotions-"

"I DON'T (R-Rated)ING CARE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" she screamed, throwing herself at him. Jacob jumped up, and Yuffie, who was normally controlled and skillful, flew past him in a furious rage.

Jacob backed up towards the door as she got back up and charged him. "OF COURSE HE LOVED ME! NOT LIKE YOU'VE EVER LOVED ANYONE, YOU BASTARD! GET _OUT NOW_!"

Jacob backed out of the door and closed it just as Yuffie hurled herself at him. He backed up against the wall outside and stared at the door, though she made no further attempt to follow him. He could hear screaming like a wild animal coming from the other side, and her fists banging against the door, before the blows subsided and all he could hear was mortified sobbing. Jacob could just picture her rolling around on the ground, kicking about madly, and screeching as though she was demon possessed.

He had experience with these things.

**Elsewhere on the ship...**

Sora had decided that Goofy probably wasn't as good at poker as Donald, Max and Cid assured Sora he was (he caught on after he lost for the fifteenth time), and had departed in search of Kairi. He came across Merlin, who was carrying about him the air that suggested that he had just done something that would been seen in the eyes of others as very trivial, and yet he thought himself very clever for it.

"Merlin, you've got your nose in the air," Sora said.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, have you seen Kairi and the other kids?"

Merlin's look of insult vanished after a moment, again replaced with his smugness. "Miss Kairi requested an illusion of sorts for she, Terra, and the children and Rinoa to play in. I did better though. I didn't get her an illusion. I got her a whole world!"

"Excuse me?" Sora asked, not exactly following.

"Oh, you know, my dear boy," Merlin said. "That story book which you ventured into."

"Pooh's book?" Sora asked. "Where are they?"

"I took the book back to my room. Hopefully, when they're ready to come out, Rinoa will be ready to be turned back into her normal self."

Sora couldn't think of anything he would rather do than spend an extended period of time in the Hundred-Acer-Wood with all the friends who lived there,_ and_ Kairi.

"If anyone asks where I am, you don't know," Sora ordered, bolting off for Merlin's room. Merlin gave him a look that said 'don't impose on me in such ways!' before Sora called back, "It was a great idea, Merlin!" at which the wizard smiled and continued to walk down the hall.

**In Tifa's room...**

The lights were out, and if it weren't for the stars flashing by, the room would have been completely black. Even the stars did not provide much light, though, but neither of the two people in the room seemed to mind.

"... Tifa..."

"Yes, Cloud?"

"I... I want to..."

"Yes?"

"... Apologize."

"For?"

"Where should I start?"

"I don't care."

Cloud shivered. "I'm sorry that I said Aerith's name when I was knocked out. You didn't need that."

"You already apologized for that, silly," she giggled.

"I'm sorry that I left you behind to chase Sephiroth," Cloud said.

Tifa let out a little gasp, though it wasn't caused by his words. "... That's okay," she said. Were there any more light in the room, one would see that she was blushing.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to touch-"

"It's okay, Cloud."

A long pause, where shadows could be seen moving about in the darkness.

"... I'm sorry that... I hid from you. With the kids. I should have brought you with me. Every day, I thought, 'Tifa would love it here', and then I scolded myself for some reason. Why did I do that, Tifa?"

"... Maybe... You didn't want me there?"

"... I think... it was because... I felt guilty for avoiding you for so long. Shame."

"Really?" Tifa asked, her shadow's arm moving as though she was tossing away an article of clothing.

"... Tifa, I-"

"Shut up. I forgive you," she said. One shadow could be seen shoving the other shadow off of the bed they were on and onto the floor, at which point the shover shadow got on top of the other. "You said that you wanted us to keep this family going. Together."

"Yes."

"What about when Barret wants Marline back?"

"She'll visit."

"And when Denzel moves out?"

"He'll visit."

"Really?"

"It'll be fun while it lasts."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Absolutely?"

"... Are you going to get off of me?"

There was a pause again, where neither of the shadows moved.

"Cloud, do you really want us to be a family?"

"Yes. The kids and each of us."

"Each of us?"

"... Yeah?"

"Cloud, will the two of us still be a family after they leave?"

Again, silence.

"Tifa, I-"

"I love you, Cloud."

"... I know. I've always known."

"I haven't. Not until you were gone for a long time did I understand what the feeling was."

"..."

"Cloud, do you love me?"

"..."

"Cloud-"

"Yes. I love you."

"... You... you mean it?"

"..."

The top shadow lowered slowly, it's long hair falling down over the other shadow's head.

"I _know_ I love you, Cloud Strife."

"... I love you too, Ti-"

Something stifled the bottom shadow's speech, and it's arms reached up around the other shadow and pulled it in so that it was laying on top of him, their bare chests pressed against each other's.

**Down the hall...**

Yuffie lay on the ground, her eyes squeezed shut as tight as they would go, and yet tears still managed to make their way out, running down her face. She had long since stopped screaming and kicking and rolling about in a fit of rage, and was now far to exhausted to do anything but lay in a puddle of her own sweat and tears.

She heard someone walking up next to her. She opened her eyes and saw a boy with white hair standing over her.

"Yuffie?"

"Yeah, Riku?"

"What are you doing?"

"... Mourning you."

"Why?"

"Because you're dead."

"But I'm right here."

"GOD DAMN IT!" she screamed, jumping up. "I TOLD YOU A MILLION TIMES ALREADY, YOU'RE DEAD! GET OUT OF HERE!"

"But Yuffie," he said, brushing the miniature Jar-Jar off his shoulder as the window burst open and sand began to blow in. "I thought you loved me?"

"OF COURSE I DO! BUT YOU'RE NOT RIKU! RIKU GOT BLOWN TO HELL!"

"But I'm right here," he said as sand began to whip up like a tornado around the two of them, with Riku's hair billowing about. "Nothing has hurt me, and I won't ever let anything hurt you."

"YOU CAN'T HELP ME, BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT REALLY HERE!" Yuffie yelled. She had already told him again and again that he wasn't real, but he didn't seem to care...

"Yuffie, if I wasn't real, I wouldn't be able to do this."

She felt his arm reach an just a bit longer than it should have been able to and wrap itself around her, pulling her in. She put up a feeble bit of resistance as she stared into his eyes, and then closed them as their lips met again, and this time it was not short, but long, and deep, and... and...

Fake...

"NO!" she yelled, breaking away and landing not in snow instead of sand. "You're not real, Riku! And I don't believe in you!"

"Yuffie-"

"La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la..." she sang, sticking her fingers in her ears and closing her eyes. "I can't hear you!"

"Yes you can," his voice came, cutting perfectly through her barrier. "Yuffie, please come to me."

Yuffie felt her hands fall to her sides pathetically and her lips stop moving, only hanging open lamely. Her eyes were barely open, and her head lolled backwards. "... No... I... Riku, you're not..." She had all at once felt incredibly weak, and she couldn't resist when she felt arms move under her knees and her torso...

She felt herself lifted into the air, her arms hanging down, and her head resting against something warm.

"I _am_ real, Yuffie."

"... You... you're not..." she breathed, her lips barely moving.

"I _am_ real, Yuffie."

"... No..." She could feel blood dripping down on her face and clothes.

"I _am_ real, Yuffie."

"... Can't be..." Something wet pressed against her lips.

"Yes, I can be."

"..."

"Yuffie?"

The Great Ninja Yuffie had fallen asleep, where dreams awaited, perhaps different from her hallucination filled reality, perhaps not.

**Several hours later...**

The Shera docked at Radiant Garden, to a rather large reception committee of both citizens from the town and Disney Castle, and members of the Rebel Alliance and the Resistance.

The Mabrik docked shortly after, with Squall disembarking with a look that said 'I'm even more annoyed and pissed off than I usually am, and someone is damn lucky that I haven't killed them'. Cid came out of the Shera to join him, though he was much happier, and may or may not have had a bottle of beer or so. Jacob came down moments after with the water, and the three departed for the headquarters. The crowd disbursed, save for Mickey, Minnie, Daisy and several others, who waited for a few moments until Donald, Goofy, Max and P.J. all disembarked. P.J. asked how Yuffie was doing, and since none of the three had seen her, he considered going aboard to see her, but then realized that he didn't really know her all that well, and probably shouldn't even try, as he would most likely make things worse.

"Yeah, you never did have much luck with women, no matter what you were doing with them," Max pointed out.

Aboard the Shera, Merlin decided to pull Sora and Kairi out of the book for a bit of a status check. They had been inside for almost seventeen hours, and it was about three o' clock inside the book.

"Yes, she trusts us, but no, we haven't told her that she's not her real age," Kairi said.

"And when exactly were you planning on telling her this?" Merlin asked. "She needs to be aware of what's going on, and be ready to cooperate!"

"We know, we know!" Sora insisted. "We're just having fun is all."

"Well!" Merlin got out.

"... Look, can't we just have a little more time in there?" Kairi asked. "Please?"

"Yeah, and besides, I'm kinda tired," Sora said, yawning and stretching to prove his point. "... My internal clock is all off now."

Merlin looked very angry for a few moments before he caved. "Fine. You can have... Well, I don't know. You can have a bit longer in there, but if Squall comes back and demands that Rinoa be turned back, they you're going to break the news to her, right then and there. Got it?"

"Got it," Sora and Kairi replied with tones that suggested that they didn't entirely 'got it'. They went back into the book, after which Merlin stormed off to do something or other, muttering things about how incredibly young and stupid those two were.

**Outside...**

Zidane and Stitch sat atop a roof near where the ships had landed, observing anyone who came and went. However, now that people had stopped coming and going, there wasn't much to do.

"Come on buddy, let's go and raid that hot chick's house down on Light Road for some panties."

"No!" Stitch insisted, though his tone suggested that he was slightly torn. "Me gotta see spiky head!"

"Stitch._ Buddy_. We're not gonna go onto that ship."

"Ih! Spiky head!"

"... Blugh, fine. But can I at least get into some swanky duds?"

"You no have any."

"I'm a thief, aren't I?"

"Kinda."

"Kinda? You've got to be kidding me!"

"No."

"Come here, you little..."

And so began a chase across the roofs of Radiant Garden which resulted in many bruises and broken bones from loose shackles on the roofs falling off onto innocent passerby.

**In the base...**

"Our scientists say that they think they can replicate the liquid," Princess Leia reported to Squall, Jacob and Cid. "Though they aren't entirely sure if it will be completely successful. Where did you get it?"

"From what I gathered, nowhere," Jacob said unhelpfully.

"Excuse me?"

"Beyond. It came from beyond," Cid put in, clearly enjoying himself.

"... Right." Leia paused. "You'll get back whatever of the original is left, just in case the clone doesn't work properly. By the way, my offer for you to join with the Rebellion still stands. Are you interested?"

The three glanced at each other. "Might be," Jacob said. "But we'll have to talk with individual members of our team, of course."

"Of course," Leia replied. "But what about you three."

"I'm staying here," Squall droned, in a very 'that's final, bitch' voice.

"I was considering it," Cid said, "Taking into account that I can bring my ship along."

"So long as you don't find any better craft among our fleet, Captain Cid," Leia replied.

"Ha!" Cid burst out a bit too loudly.

"I can bring back a list of everyone who'll be joining up," Jacob said. "But I already know who you want."

"Do you think he'll join?" Leia asked.

"Fairly. Feel free to get your hopes up, but nothing's concrete."

"Concrete is concrete," Cid said.

"Shut the hell up, Cid."

**A few hours later...**

Sora, Kairi, Terra, Marline, Denzel, and Rinoa all came out of the book, with Kairi having explained to Rinoa that she believed that the kidnappers had preformed a spell on her to send her back in time. Sora would force the kidnapper's magician to fix the problem. Rinoa said goodbye, and then Merlin and Sora went into Merlin's room together, with Sora holding Merlin at sword point.

"You lot really are bad liars," Merlin muttered as the door closed.

Terra managed to slip away, something churning in her mind unsettlingly.

She scoured the ship until she found just the man she was looking for in Jacob, who had come back to his room after his meeting with Leia, despite the fact that he hasn't been there the entire trip, and had instead been standing outside of Yuffie's door. Not that she knew any of that, but even if she had, it wouldn't have effected anything.

"Yes, Terra?" he asked, turning in his swivel chair away from his desk, finishing typing something into his phone and then putting it away in one of his pockets.

"... I... I felt something I didn't recognize earlier."

"An emotion?"

"Yes. It... it made me feel warm inside, and I wanted to move, and jump around, and do all sorts of stuff that shouldn't matter, and doesn't do anything productive, but I didn't care, and I felt like... my mouth was... it was fighting with me, like it wanted to move and curl."

"When did this happen?"

"I was in this book with Kairi and Sora and the kids. They were all messing around with the people who live in the book, and they all... they all..."

"Fun, Terra?"

"Yeah."

"You wanted to join them?"

"... I think so."

"I'm not sure exactly what you are, Terra," Jacob said. "And I'm not sure how long it will take to figure that out. But, most Espers don't look half as human as you do, and you're... well, you're human as human can be." She stared at him blankly. "Well, you've still got Esper abilities, and... Well, Terra, Espers can't fell emotion like humans can. Some can't feel at all. But you..."

He stood and walked towards her. "You've got emotions, even if you don't understand them, and don't feel them all the time. They're confusing you, but I think that you'll understand them with time. Terra, don't think that you're human, but I don't think that you're an Esper, either."

She continued to stare at him, but there was something a bit scared in her eyes now. "W-what do you think I am?"

"I have no idea. A half-Esper, half-human? Doubtful, but possible. A new species all together, engineered by the Empire it's self?"

Terra wasn't sure if she should be disturbed by Jacob's hypotheses or not. "I don't think that they made me. I told you that Cloud knew me for a little while, and he told me that I was kidnapped as a baby."

"... Then the Empire must have known what you were, all the same," Jacob said. "They might have known you were something different, but told everyone that you were an Esper. Or..." He glanced at her. "This is hopeless. Here, I promise you: The next time we're in an Imperial base, I'll try and find out all I can about you."

"... You promise?" she asked, a bit confused. Why would he promise such a thing to her?

"I promise," Jacob said. "And Terra?" he said. She nodded. "Next time you feel it coming, let your mouth curl. Jump up and down. I... I think it'll help."

**Elsewhere on the ship...**

Marline and Denzel were quite shocked with the older Rinoa, even though they knew it was coming. Kairi had promptly hurled herself around her sister, at which Rinoa had fallen over under the sudden weight. When asked if she remembered anything that had happened, she answered that the last thing she remembered was Noir holding her. When Merlin suggested to look for any strange, out of place memories from when she was five, she found those of the time she had recently spent with them, only they were old memories, and a bit fuzzy, and not helped by the fact that her real memories from that time kept butting in and confusing her.

Squall came down to see her and they both vanished, and soon Cid's voice could be heard, summoning everyone to the deck.

Once Sora, Kairi, Terra, Merlin, Tifa, Cloud, Marline and Denzel were gathered (though the last three weren't required, and Tifa was giggling madly for some reason, and Cloud was smiling ever so subtly) Cid and Jacob asked:

"Who wants to join the Rebel Alliance?"

Everyone (Other than the two kids and Cloud, obviously) had been thinking about it, and just about everyone had their answers.

"I will," Sora said moments after the question was popped.

"I will, too," Kairi said.

There was a long pause, during which no one so much as made a sound, until:

"I-I will," Terra said, stepping up next to Sora and Kairi. Jacob flashed her a grin, before he was promptly distracted.

"We will!"

"Neva nalla gwesta, suckers!"

Jacob turned to see Zidane standing in the door. Stitch sitting on his shoulder, the little blue imp cackling madly as he often did.

"What in sam hell are you supposed to be?" Cid asked.

"I'm the guy who'll blow your mind," Zidane rhymed shamelessly, stepping out of the door and out onto the pilot's platform, past Cid and Jacob, down the stairs, and to the rest of the group.

"Okay, that was helpful..." Cid muttered, a very tired and exasperated look on his face.

"No one else?" Jacob asked.

"... Cloud and I were going back with Marline and Denzel," Tifa said.

"I'm going back to my house and forgetting about all this nonsense," Merlin said simply.

"We need to ask Max," Jacob said.

"What about Yuffie?" Cid questioned him.

"... I don't think she's coming."

"... Oh. Okay."

Merlin volunteered to zap away to Disney Castle and retrieve Max, which he promptly did. They were back in a few minutes, and Max had an answer.

"I'm sorry guys, but no."

"What?" Sora asked.

"My dad and Donald aren't gonna come either. We're gonna stay behind and defend Disney Castle. I mean, after we liberate it, of course. We'll be fighting the Empire in our own way." Max blushed. "Plus... I've got a girl friend who's already pissed at me for being gone so long."

"You do what you feel is right," Jacob said. He looked down at Sora, Kairi, Terra, Zidane, and Stitch. "I've been informed that the Rebellion is moving out in about one week. So get ready, because me and Cid'll be flying this thing out with them." He looked up at the Tifa, and then at Merlin, and then at Max. "I've got to be somewhere. See you." With that, he turned, and walked off the deck.

**Shortly...**

Sora and Kairi stayed behind on the deck, not really having anywhere else to go. They both stared uncaringly out of the window at the city, though they were at ground level, so there was nothing impressive about the view.

"... Kairi?" Sora asked, looking at her.

"Mmm?"

"How long do you think we'll be gone?"

"Well, you are the Keybearer. I'm sure that if we really wanted out, we could pull a few strings..."

Sora gave a half-hearted laugh. "Listen, I-"

"Psst!"

They both turned around and saw Yuffie standing on top of the deck.

"Psst!" she hissed again, though she already had their attention.

"What is it?" Sora asked her in a normal voice.

"I thought you guys would want your stuff back before I took off."

"... Excuse me?" they both asked.

"You know, all the stuff that you guys left on the Mabrik when Riku baled on you."

"No, we meant... take off?" Sora asked.

"Oh! Right! Hey, can you guys keep that on the down low?" she asked. "Now come on, I'm not gonna unload all this crap myself, you know!"

Sora and Kairi threw each other glances, then walked up towards her. They walked through the ship, down the ramp, and over the the small blue and white craft parked next to them. Yuffie opened the back and stepped in, followed by Sora and Kairi. She must have already gotten to work, because two piles of clothes for each of them were stacked up next to each other.

"I just need your help finding all the odds and ends, you know," she said.

About a half an hour later, Sora and Kairi were fairly certain that they had all their stuff, and unloaded it out onto the pavement.

"Oh, almost forgot," Yuffie said, running back inside. She came back out with a large envelope, which she opened carefully. "Riku told me that he had letters to some people in this here. I guess he must have revised them every so often, to keep with the times, you know? Kinda paranoid, though, thinking that he's gonna die like that. Ha ha!"

"... Yuffie, are you okay?" Sora asked.

"Huh? Oh, fine," she replied, waving a hand at him diesmisvly as she looked at the name on the first letter. "This is for Kairi," she said, handing it to the red-head. "... King Mickey," she said, pulling that one out and handing it to Kairi as well. "... Aaaaaaaand, Sora," she finished, pulling out another letter, handing it to the male. "Well, I must be off!" she said, closing the envelope quickly as though she had something to hide. "I might see you all again some day!" she said happily, going up the ramp and waving back at them.

"Yuffie!" Kairi yelled. She turned around just as the ramp started to close. "Where are you going?"

"I don't know!" the ninja replied happily just as the ramp shut. Sora and Kairi stepped back to the save distance where they had put their stuff down, and watched as the ship lifted off, hovered, and then shot off into the sky. They continued to follow it until it was no more than a speck in space, and then it was too gone to be seen.

"Hey, Sora?" Kairi said.

"Yeah?"

"She took Riku's things with her."

* * *

_**To Mickey:**_

You came into my life when I really needed you in my life. You saved my life a good number of times, and I'm sure that I still owe you a few. If you're reading this, then it looks like you missed a beat or two, but hopefully you were home, with your wife, and Donald and Goofy.

I'm writing this draft while in the past: Yuffie, P.J. and I were pulled into a worm hole in time and space. If you're reading this, I probably died then, and somehow you found it. You'll never cease to amaze me.

I just want you to know that without you, I would have never made it as far as I did, and I would have never found myself like I did. I was a lost soul, and my Heart was filled with Darkness; but you fixed that. You truly are amazing, Mickey, and I'm honored that you would consider me so close that you request I call you by your first name.

It was an honor,

**_Riku_**

* * *

_**To Kairi:**_

Kairi, you really were an odd girl. You know that, don't you? But you intrigued me, and you alerted me to the fact that there were other worlds out there. Maybe, if it wasn't for you, Sora would have never saved the universe. No, I know that without you, he wouldn't have.

Kairi, I don't want you to worry about me, whatever has happened to me. I do want you to worry about Sora, though; don't let him go crazy. If whatever it was was strong enough to kill me, then Sora will probably lose himself trying to get revenge. Don't let him do that to himself.

I'm not sure what else I can put to words, for often emotions don't have words that apply to them. I can say, Kairi, that I am sure that I loved you for a long part of my life. However, even when I was young, I was tinted, and my initial interest in you grew into more of a lust, and it should have never been that. Allow me one final request: tell Sora what you really think of him. You and he were meant for each other more than we ever were.

Wishing you the best,

_**Riku**_

* * *

_**To Sora:**_

Goodness, you're a moron.

Sora, just so that you know, there were never any hard feelings between either of us as to the Keyblade. I lost my chance, and you got it. Either the Keyblade made the wrong choice, or I did. Perhaps both. Either way, there is no sense in worrying about what has past, as there is no way to change it now.

I am dead... a funny thought, to think that you'll be reading this after I'm dead. Speaking of me being dead, Sora, as a sort of last request, do this: Don't go after whatever/whoever killed me. Sora, no offense, but if it took me out, it just isn't worth the risk. I'm not worth your life at this point. You're a Keybearer, Sora, and even if neither of us understands the true meaning of that statement, I'm sure it's much more important that either of us have come to understand. I can feel it.

Lastly, Sora, please, please don't be such a moron. Kairi... don't think of it as you would be betraying me now that I'm dead, because you wouldn't be. I didn't think of her in a romantic way. I thought I did for a while, but now I understand what I felt. Please Sora, don't let her get away from you. You two have loved each other since you found her washed up on that beach. And I know she loves you.

Thanks for all the memories, your best friend,

_**Riku**_

* * *

_**To Yuffie:**_

Yuffie, I'm not exactly sure where to begin with you. This is my first ever draft on you, and I'm surprised to find myself here writing it. I don't know how to describe you, Yuffie, because it seems like you're something different every time I turn around. I still don't understand what you see in me; I'm not all that attractive, I'm kind of a bitch, and I'm pretty sure that you've figured out by now that I'm not just 'playing hard to get'. And yet you keep coming.

I know I didn't like you or your advances at first, and I'm pretty sure I still don't like your advances as I sit here and write this. However, I'm not so sure about you anymore. Something about the way you keep trying either shows that you're extremely stupid, or have something so strong in your Heart that you simply can't over come it. I don't believe that love is always returned. After all, we don't live in a fairy tale. However, I have yet to find words to explain how I feel about you. You make me feel calm, despite the fact that you yourself are crazy. Whenever you smile at me, and whenever you're big, deep eyes look into mine, something in me jumps. I'm sure that it's stronger with you, and probably with other people, and I'm also sure that everyone feels love differently, but I've a pretty good idea of what this is.

Actually, I need to correct myself. I've been saying IS, and such, haven't I? I should be saying WAS, since I'm dead. That's a really strange concept, you know? If you probably weren't mourning me right now, I'm sure you'd find that funny. In fact, as I sit here and write this, I kind of want to come and get you and suggest the idea just to see what you think of it. When you laugh, that's another thing that makes me feel that way. I like the feeling. I like it a lot, Yuffie.

I LIKED that feeling, Yuffie. I'm dead, after all. I don't want you to mourn me. I would never forgive myself, and probably kill myself for a second time, if I had any reason to believe that I took the happy, hyper, fantastic, incomparable, ecstatic, lovesick Great Ninja Yuffie out of the galaxy.

Your almost lover,

_**Riku**_

* * *

"Jacob?" Kairi asked.

"Yes?"

"Whatever did you do with Bliss of Heart? You know, that thing of Noir's that changed people's Hearts, and only one could exist at a time, yata-yata-yata?"

Jacob grinned. "Well, since you've probably worked out that all that stuff about the gods telling he he couldn't was a load of bull crap, and Noir really couldn't build another one..."

"Yeah..."

"I destroyed it."

Kairi smiled back. "That's just like you."

"You're getting to know me again, Kairi."

* * *

**End Book One.**

** In the spirit of **_**Inception **_**(if you haven't seen it, SEE IT!), I'll leave it up to you to decide if Yuffie's letter was real or if she hallucinated it.**

** Disclaimer: Don't own the Director of Project Freelancer, or the Omega A.I.. Both are from Red Vs. Blue with Agent Tex, made by Rooster Teeth. Also, Kefka is from FF VI.**

** So, now that that's out of the way, I'll leave you all to your thoughts. Please review. I'd love to hear what you think of all this.**

**I'd like to thank a few people, starting with Trev Dawg, with whom I had many theory and idea based conversations. Also NinjaSheik, my first reader ever. Lastly, natcat5, the obsessive fangirl I always wanted. (Kidding!) Also, my small number of other readers, whom I hope continue to read.**

** Watch out for the upcoming sequel, Kingdom Hearts: Fate of Heart.**

** Until then,**

** Lord Fortune**


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